The Basketball Journal

Let's Get To Work - Coaching update

2009-10-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

Hey there basketball fans. Here is the new news on my journey to becoming a professional NCAA D1 or higher Head Basketball Coach. Today, I started my new job as assistant coach for my High School's Girl's Team. I know what you're thinking: "That is not a Division 1 NCAA basketball program." And you're right. But my plan is two-fold. I get more experience coaching here, and move on to become a Head Coach. Meanwhile, I hobnob and network with college coaches coming to see my players. Before you know it, people know my name. And once they know my name, I'm IN!!!

That doesn't sound too cryptic, right? Whatever. I haven't Blogged since the Mercury won the Finals, 3-2 (Big Surprise, right?). Congratulations to them -- Damnit.

Until Next time,
...

Iverson Not Done Yet

2009-10-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

In a recent article with ESPN's Scoop Jackson, Allen Iverson revealed that he was treated not only unfairly during his 77 game stint with the Pistons last year, but dishonestly. While Iverson stopped short of blaming Pistons General Manager Joe Dumars, everyone else in the organization was fair game. From the execs to the coach to even some of the players, Iverson detailed his disdain for what he called the "worst year of [his] career."

Iverson indicated that his decision to join the Memphis Grizzlies this year was to prove that he can still play and love the game at the same time. Iverson's detractors point to last year as a sign that the 34 year old Shooting Guard has lost some of what made him one of the best players in the NBA for the past Decade - his quickness. Iverson, though, seems determined to silence his critics. And for the first time in his career, Iverson is talking about practice. And not to explain what it is that he doesn't want to do. IVerson is ready to help the Grizzlies move back to into contention for a playoff spot in the Uber-deep Western Conference and the extremely tough Southwest Division.

I don't know if he'll live up to that lofty hope, but expect the win column to shoot up significantly, especially if Zach Randolph is on board with Iverson's plans. It's never a bad thing when a team full of young players take on a grizzled old vet with something to prove and a lot of skill. I seriously doubt that we'll see him on another one-year contract after this season. In fact, we might see Memphis get it's first All-Star since Pau Gasol. Stay tuned for more on these possibilities as the season moves along.

Soon, I will be doing pre-season previews of each division, team by team. I'm trying to get a friend of mine to help with the analyses and maybe even do a series of podcasts, so watch out for those in the coming weeks before the season starts.

Until then fans,

WNBA Finals Preview

2009-09-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

OK, not only did my Sparks lose a series that they really could have won, but my favorite Basketball player wore pigtails in a game that will be played on ESPN classic at least 100 times (Lisa Leslie's last game).
And though I know this is a Finals preview, I have to take a moment to first thank Lisa Leslie for about two decades of one of the greatest basketball careers ever.

Some Highlights:
4-time olympian and the only player to win Gold in 4 straight Olympics (Basketball)
3-time WNBA MVP
2-time WNBA Champion
2-time WNBA Finals MVP
2-time WNBA DPOY
14-time WNBA Player of the Week
3-time All Star MVP
7-time First team All-WNBA selection
4-time Second team All-WNBA
4-time All-Pac10 Conference Player (USC - Only Student athlete to accomplish this)
1994 - NCAA National Player of the year
Selected to first or second team each year of WNBA's existence except the year she took off to give birth and the year she came back from the pregnancy.
She once scored 101 points in a high school game during the first half. The other team decided to forfeit and didn't come out of the locker room for the second half.
The starts and accolades are great, but it doesn't nearly describe what she did for women's basketball. When I was in high school, I had three players' posters on my wall: Eddie Jones, Magic Johnson and Lisa Leslie.
Lisa is one of the greatest basketball players ever - Male or Female. Her presence on the court will be missed.

Now, as for the Finals, we've got a match-up of two teams who choose to be dominant in two very different ways. They were 1 and 2 in the WNBA standings this year. Indiana did it with classic Hoosier Defense and Phoenix did it with classic Paul Westhead offense. Corey Gaines, head coach, has Phoenix playing so well right now that they are surprised when they lose a game. You can see it all over themselves. Remember the Bulls in 1998? The Comets in 1999? The Lakers in 2000? Those teams played with such confidence that a loss was seen more as a detour toward the predestined eventuality that was their championship than a sign of something that they were doing wrong. They don't go out and "Play Basketball." They go out and "Win Games." Trust me, the difference in their mindsets, compared with that of the rest of the league is HUGE.
Indiana, on the other hand, plays with an urgency and passion that makes every loss seem like a personal insult. When they step on the court, they look to win every single possession on each end of the floor and get visibly upset when they give up a transition basket. Layups are not seen as an easy shot for their opponents, but rather as a challenge for a wing defender, too far away to get the block, or a post player who might be able to step in for the charge, just in time. You can tell that the veteran presence on this team wants to win now. You see them explaining proper positioning and the team defensive concepts after every missed assignment, after every blown coverage. Three things you don't see against this team? Long, cross court passes that hit their target, "easy" layups, and senseless fouls. That's the mark of a good defensive team.

The match up of Tamika Catchings and Diana Taurasi should be entertaining and will get most of the attention, but Tameka Dixon and Cappie Pondexter have had their battles in the past and no one gaurds Cappie better. Dixon will get a lot more minutes in this series against her (if there is anything good and righteous in this world) and Look for the winner of that matchup each game to determine the winner of the game and, eventually, the series. In particular, if Dixon can goad Pondexter into a lot of bad shots and a low percentage on them (since she usually shoots a pretty high percentage on bad shots), Indiana's excellent defensive rebounding should provide Indiana plenty of opportunities to limit Taurasi's offensive touches, and thus, her effectiveness.

But in the end, I expect the excellently coached Mercury to prove to be too much for the Fever. You can see it in their eyes. They see that Chips and Salsa at the end of the table, and they are hungry. My prediction: Mercury 3-2 Fever. Diana Tarausi (my pick for Finals MVP), will once again find herself at the same place she has found herself for much of her entire basketball career -- whether High School, College or now the WNBA - on top.

What does Candace Parker's return mean for Sparks, WNBA?

2009-07-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

How long does it take to realize greatness? A year? A lifetime? A season? Sometimes, greatness doesn't wait to be recognized. Sometimes, greatness stands up and boldly proclaims "Here I am! Deal with me!" When Candace Parker finished her college career as the best female athletes since Marion Jones, people knew that she was good. After leading the league in rebounding during her first season, while taking home the Rookie Of The Year and Most Valuable Player awards, we took notice, and even thought, "She's something special." But on Sunday evening, when she entered the game against the Mercury with 5:35 left in the first quarter and less than two months since giving birth, that was the third time since the WNBA's inception that a player stood up boldly and shouted "Take Notice! Or be the only one who doesn't!"

The first time was in the WNBA's third annual finals when Cynthia Cooper decided that she could score and assist at will, propelling Houston to it's third of the Four straight championships to get the League off to a good start. The second was when Lisa Leslie, aging, but still one of the best in the League, took a fast break pass with no one in front of her and calmly, but demonstratively, stepped to the front of the rim and softly stuffed the ball through the net (possibly in response to the then-college star, parker dunking twice in a game the week before). Both of those performances were significant on the court, of course. But off the court they made statements that would help propel the league forward. Cooper's performance told the then-doubtful public "Yes, a woman can be a fearless cruch-time scorer and send chills down your spine with her ability to score when her team needs it." Lisa Leslie's performance said "Yes, we are less athletic than men. But we are still athletes! We still compete! And if average Joe-six pack thinks that he can run with us, come try me."

Parker's performance, which she would even admit was a sub-par for her standards, was significant for a completely different reason. We've all heard it said, "The WNBA is nothing but a lesbian league." "None of the women have kids because athletes can't have kids and still compete." When Parker played in Sunday's game, less than two months after giving birth to little Lailaa. Seriously, that's amazing. A woman who works in my office, sitting behind a desk needed four months to come back from pregnancy. Now of course, she's not the first mother to play in a WNBA game. Yolanda Griffith and teammate Lisa Leslie are two notable examples of WNBA Mothers. But Leslie waited until her career was almost over before having her baby - after the Championships, after the MVPs, and after most of her statistics. And then she took a whole year off. Many others, like Griffith, had babies before they knew that they would have Basketball careers. Others, like Parker's teammate Tina Thompson, don't take the entire year off, but also don't contribute significantly in the year that they return from pregnancy. Paker, though, chose to have a baby with her husband and obviously got pregnant DURING the season, giving birth a little over a month before the following season began.
What's most significant, though, is that she was the best player in the league last year. So if she can get back anywhere close to her peak ability this year, we will probably start to see a lot more players planning May/June Babies. Parker's return to action shows that young female professional athletes don't have to wait until their mid-thirties to have babies. Rather, as Leslie pointed out, Parker's age (22) will no doubt assist in her recovery from the pregnancy and allow her to fully recapture her physical prime beter than a woman in her late thirties. So instead of ending a great career early, women can just take a couple of months off in their twenties.
This, in combination with her undeniable skill on the court, charisma in interviews and charming demeanor all around (not to mention her near flawless beauty) will help to propel Parker from athlete to national and international spokeswoman for the game.

The WNBA has found it's Magic, with Leslie playing the part of Kareem, to build around for the next 15 years. Here's to hoping that she comes through on all the promise we see in her. Candace, the WNBA's future and success is in your hands... No pressure, though.

Ron Artest to the Lakers. Ariza, probably out...

2009-07-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

Let me preface everything I'm about to tell you with two cautionary statements. First, I am perpetually dubious towards guys who have stand out numbers in contract years and especially step it up in the playoffs during contract years. Generally, it wreaks of someone who doesn't put in enough effort to maintain those same numbers over the life of his contract.

Secondly, I remain completely skeptical about guys who attack men half their size (and 1/64th their pigment) on national television without clear and indisputable evidence of their reasons for doing so. And even more so of guys who then have their barber carve the logo of their franchise into their heads. Rodman did it. T.O. did it (I think), and I'm certain that both those guys are crazier than talking carrot sticks.

Now, having said that, I LOVE Trevor Ariza and Ron Artest! With the signing of Ron Artest, the Lakers will now have 5 All-Start quality players, any of whom could score 30 points on any given night. That is, of course, if they keep Lamar Odom.

If the Lakers resign Odom, this will be a monumentally successful off season for the Lakers, even if Ariza does sign with another team, as he probably will. But even without Ariza, the Lakers' team has actually upgraded over the team that just won the championship last month.

So to recap the off-season so far:

Shaq goes to Cleavland and all but promises a ring to Cavs fans. Cavs fans and most of the media, evidently decide to ignore the fact that they are not getting 27-13 Shaq from a decade ago. They're getting the Shaq that didn't play on the second night of back-to-backs last year. They're getting the short bus Shaq. You know what I mean. This is the Everybody-gets-a-trophy Shaq. Don't make me spell it out for you, Everyone has been talking about his resurgence. Seriously? Am I the only one who noticed that it doesn't exist?

Anyway, moving on...

Charlie Villanueva and, for some reason, Ben Gordon Agree to sign with the Pistons. Ok, this one was even more perplexing than the Shaq Trade. I understand Charlie V. He's a big, mobile guy who can hit jump shots and defend a little bit. Kind of like Rasheed Wallace before he dissapeared off the face of the planet. If he can remember what defense is after playing in Milwaukee, he could fit in well with Detroit. But, uh What about Gordon?

Here's a guy who plays the two guard position pretty well. He uses screens very effectively, whether on the ball or on the weak side. He's solid, but not spectacular defensively. And offensively, he can hit jump shots with a high accuracy and consistency. He'll take big shots and is one of the best conditioned athletes in the League, so you know that he could probably play 40 minutes every night if you need him to. Though he still takes too many three point shots, He's basically been proving his critics wrong - whatever those critics wanted to say about him - since he came out of U-Conn.

So why don't I understand this signing? Read the Last paragraph again. I'll wait. Seriously, just humor me and actually read it again. Can you honestly tell if I'm talking about Ben Gordon or Richard Hamilton? Watch this:

2008-2009 Season Statistics
..........Richard Hamilton............Ben Gordon
Point.... 18.3....................... 20.7
Rebounds. 3.1........................ 3.5
Assists.. 4.4........................ 3.4
Steals... 0.6........................ 0.9
Blocks... 0.1........................ 0.3
FG%...... 44.7%...................... 45.5%
FT%...... 84.8%...................... 86.4%
3P%...... 36.8%...................... 41.0%
Minutes.. 34.0....................... 36.6
Fouls ... 2.6........................ 2.2

OK, three point percentages aside, these guys are eerily similar. They even went to the same freakin' college!!! If this were another team, I would say "Great Job, Orlando, Cleavland, New York, Seattle, Sacremento, Utah, Denver, UTAH!!! DENVER!!! or Minnesota!" But this just seems to me like a GM who had too much money to spend and not enough time to spend it. Joe Dumars must be feeling right now, like if he doesn't do SOMETHING, then he'll let too much go and he would rather just look busy than be fired for inactivity. It wreaks of that situation. Otherwise, why would they hire a Richard Hamilton Clone right after giving the Original Rich Hamilton (well, the real one anyway. The original Richard Hamilton was Reggie Miller) a big contract? It doesn't really make any sense.

Now, on with it.

The Lakers agreed to terms with Ron Artest to get him signed at somewhere around the mid-level exception. This is the biggest move so far by ANY team because of the Lakers' status. If he had gone to Cleaveland, Orlando, Boston, San Antonio or even Portland, that team would have to be considered to be seriously in the running for a Championship. But he didn't. He just made the best team in the League even better. His defense, especially, will improve the Lakers' overall team defense as well as keep someone on the floor to guard the opposing team's best perimeter players. Kobe is always up for the task, but sometimes, it takes too much to do that every night. Also, it gives the Lakers yet another person who can score on his own and command a double-team. That makes 5... at least 4, but maybe 5 on some nights .

So Much Things To Say Right Now...

2009-05-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

- I'm kind of tired of hearing all of this "Who is Better, Lebron or Kobe?" mess. They're each better at different things. Lebron is now the more consistent scorer, while Kobe can still score in a lot more ways.

- It's interesting watching Dwight Howard and Lebron James in a series right now. They're the two most physically gifted athletes... maybe EVER in the NBA. And both of them are so busy making 10 "Where Amazing Happens" commercials per game to do the things that signified some of the past greats. Watching them fumble around on the low post for their respective teams is especially amusing. Watch them. It looks like someone pulled the old Dennis Rodman "Pull the chair from under him" routine almost every time they try to make post moves towards the basket. On one play, yesterday, Lebron almost stumbled over his own feet... but he still got the two points. I guess that as long as they're scoring, it doesn't matter how pretty the move is. But if Dwight had moves like Olajuwon, he would score like Wilt.

- Congratulations to Shelden Williams and Candace Parker-Williams on Baby Layla Nicole Williams (Not Sure of the spelling). Also congratulations to Uncle, Anthony Parker. On a separate note, wouldn't you love to just watch a pick up game at one of their family bar-b-qs? If Layla knows what's good for her, she better play basketball. I could see her biography on Lifetime now "In the shadows of BB", with the inevitable scene where she's caught reading up on constitutional law because she wants to be a lawyer, then the family has an intervention to find out what's wrong with her.

- Tonight is Nuggets V. Lakers, Game 2. The Nuggets played better in the last game and still lost. I picked the Lakers to win in Six, but after seeing that, I might want to change it to Lakers in 5. Especially if the Lakers get an extra home game on Monday Night when Vince McMahon gets his way in the Pepsi Center.

- My Never-Ending quest to become an NCAA Coach took a positive turn this week when I was offered a position. Not as an NCAA Coach, but as a High School coach. Still, it's something. Now I just have to figure out how to survive in Los Angeles for a year on $23.45, the entire stipend for the position. I'll let you all know if I end up taking it. If I do, you'll probably see me at your local Wal-Mart Convenience store in the mornings.

- In the meantime, I'll be coaching another season at MVRC, beginning next month. I'm excited about that, even though it looks like I might not have 7 kids on the team. I guess they'll just have to get in shape.

- OK, that's it for now. More later.

- Wishing you all Love, Peace and Soul, Everybody... I miss Don Cornelious. Shamar more is a very poor replacement.

MVRC Jazz: 1-1

2009-01-17T19:56:00.000-08:00

We got our first win!!! We're only allowed to have one practice per week for one hour, so yesterday was the first time we got everyone on the court together. In fact, one player joined the team yesterday! I put a couple of plays into our offense - one to use against man to man and one to use against the zone defenses. Also, we worked on spotting the open man and getting him the ball quickly. Then, we made sure that each person knew for certain what positions he is supposed to play when he's on the court, depending on who else is on the court with him. But the best thing about practice was the intensity that the guys played with. It made me very confident about today's game. The last thing I said in practice was "Tomorrow, we get our first win of the season. But it's not really about winning or losing, it's about having fun... but winning is REALLY fun!!!" Well, it is.

Game day. A few players show up early and we're working on running the plays that we put in yesterday. Not too hard. It's pregame warm up, not practice. And I don't want us to over exert ourselves right before a game. Everyone seems to be feeling very confident with themselves because last week, though we lost by 15 points, we did much better in the second half than the first and we didn't have an offensive identity yet. Now, we know who we are on offense. We know what we're doing and how to do it.

When the game starts, we jump out to a very quick 10-2 score on the strength of 3 layups and a couple of offensive rebounds, as well as some very inspired defense on the other teams best player, a sweet-shooting, ball handling small forward who can only really go right, but last week scored 10 points in about a minute of game time. We were very worried about him. After the first half, we were up by 17 points. But I reminded the guys what happened last week. The suns had beaten us down in the first half and we shaved 10 points off of their lead in the first 15 minutes of the game. If the refs didn't institute a running clock, we probably could have won the game. We just ran out of time. Plus, one of their players scored 10 points in a minute, so they're capable of coming back. Everyone was happy with themselves, but intense and focused on the task at hand. We ended up winning by about 22 points and, oh yeah, our starting point guard wasn't there due to a prior engagement (Club Soccer in the valley, good luck Daniel).

Then we all went out for pizza where the boys got a chance to mingle as a team, away from a basketball setting and really start to get to know each other. Their parents came too, of course which was even more important, because now we have someone in charge of bringing water for the games and snacks for afterwards.

All in all, it was a good day :). I can't wait till next week.

As always, you'll know more as I do,

Here we go again

2009-01-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

As of Right now, there are currently 9 teams on pace to win 50 games in the NBA's Western Conference. And while in past years, I would use this statistic to talk about the dominance of the West over the East, I simply can't. Because, while the Lakers currently technically have the best record in the league (30-6, compared to the Cavaliers at 29-6), the East currently has three teams - one in each division - on pace to win over 60 games!!! A total of 13 teams are currently on at least a 50 win pace, making this spring's Playoffs look like it already could be better than last years, which was one of the best ever! Let's look at some of the possibilities, come this April, May and June.

As it stands right now, some of the first round match ups we could see might be. The Lakers would be slated to match up with their most constant western conference rival, Utah, while San Antonio would be hosting another wild match up with Phoenix. Portland and New Orleans would meet in a match up of two of the best Rookie-Of-The-Year award recipients this decade (no offense to Elton Brand and Kevin Durant). This would probably be the most exciting series in the West, with two very young teams that rely heavily on their well-rounded guards and adept low-post scoring Power Forwards. In fact, come to think of it, they also both have young Centers who are pretty good defensively, but not quite there offensively and coaches who - well, they both have coaches. Anyway, this would be a fun matchup to watch and every single series could go either way (even LA Vs. Utah if they get Boozer back).
But after the Lakers, the next eight teams are only separated by 2.5 games. That means that if number 2 San Antonio wins three of their next 5 games and number 9 Dallas wins all five of theirs (which wouldn't be much of a surprise seeing how each have had stretches like that this year), they could potentially switch places in the standings. The number 2 team in the west could be out of the playoff picture by the end of next week, so it's way to early to start talking about playoff match ups. But it's still fun :).

In the East, on the other hand, the balance of power isn't so... well, "Balanced." The Three top teams, Boston, Cleavland and Orlando, figure to finish in the top three in some order. I wouldn't be surprised to see Boston, Cleavland or Orlando end up with the top spot. Then there's Detroit and Atlanta, who will be fighting to have home court advantage in their series against each other, but will be playing one of those top three in the second round. After that, you've got 6 teams that are fighting to get into the playoffs with between 16 and 19 wins right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see any three-team combination of those six be wiped out in the first round by the top three. I also suspect that no more than 2 of them will wind up with a winning record. Maybe none of them will win 42 games. Only one thing is for sure. There's very little chance of them winning ANYTHING in the playoffs this year. There are some exceptions. Miami has seen Dwayne Wade go Crazy in the Playoffs before and he's healthy again, so there's no reason why it can't happen again. In particular, against Orlando, if the match up is right. Toronto always has a shooter's chance, as long as their shooters get back to full health. In particular against Cleavland, who has a difficult time guarding early three point shots. And If Indiana is matched up against Boston, they have a good chance. I don't know why. But they seem to play ridiculously well against Boston and LA.

I can't believe this. It's January, and I'm already talking about the Playoffs! Man, I love this game! Oh, wait, that's the old slogan. Whoops.

Fantasy Basketball Update # 4: Oblivion.

2009-01-11T01:25:00.001-08:00

I'm ranked 1st in one of my leagues, tied for second in another, and all of the others have just gone away completely. I don't know what's going on. Brandon Roy is out, Nate Robinson is out, Zach Randolph, Carlos Boozer... It's really not a good year to be on one of my fantasy teams. It's Just really bad. What I said before about the New York/Golden State trade seems to have been accurate so far. Especially for Al Harrington. Monta Ellis should be back in a couple of weeks, so we'll really get to see the effects of three guards who think a chest pass is a character flaw running the same floor together.

And that doesn't just apply to fantasy ball. Harrington is really doing well for New York, who recently beat Boston on the strength of a Monster game by him. His numbers: 30pts, 7 rbs, 2 asts, 11/23 FG, 5/9 3FG. Those are good numbers for a center who averaged 12 points and got more DNPCDs than Blocks in the first month of the season.

But My teams suck now. Bleh.

MVRC Jazz: 0 - 1

2009-01-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoo!!! Alright, I know that the team lost today, but we won the second half :). As you know, I am the head coach for the Mar Vista Recreation Center (Not Utah) Jazz. Yesterday, we had our first practice with five or more people in attendance. Then, today, we had our first game. As you can probably imagine, we didn't do very well. First half score: 12-37. The Kids came back to the bench deflated and dejected, looking to me for guidance and direction. I peered into their glazed-over eyes, glanced up at the scoreboard and winced a little, searching for a muse, some method of conjuring up any ounce of oratory inspiration and encouragement. As the kids panted before me, only one thing went through my mind. So, being the man that I am, I had to be honest with them: "Wow", I gasped... "That was pretty rough." What do you want from me? I'm new to this stuff.

Honestly, we were down by 25 points for two reason: Lack of practice time together, and lack of an experienced coach. So I looked to the 75% of a team we had available and I told them "It looks bad right now, I know. But we're going to do better in the second half." I told them all that this was not the time for us to shrink and hide, but to shine. When you're down by 25, you might as well experiment, right? All the pressure is gone. You know, they say that it's all about having fun, so I told them to just go out there and have fun. And can you believe that they actually bought it?

We instituted a "Don't-Look-At-The-Scoreboard" Rule in the second half, which just made people look at the scoreboard more, and the MVRC Jazz went out and played their hearts out in the second half. My substitution patterns were more succinct and meaningful and the defense was more inspired. The offense still sputtered and looked at times like we hadn't worked on any offense together as 5-man units (we still haven't, actually, but that's beside the point) but the play was inspiring. By games end, we had shaved 10 points off of the "Suns" lead and would have gotten it down further if not for a running clock.

All in all, I'd say it was a successful outing. No one got injured, everyone seemed to have fun, I finally got a really good look at how my players react to each other and in different situations. Also, I found out that I'm putting a couple of players in positions that they don't need to be in. We Still lost by double digits, but we did much better in the second half and once we finally get our full team together (Hopefully this Friday), the Jazz are going to be a force in the MVRC Majors division league.

Next week, win or lose, I'm taking all the kids out for pizza after the game (man I hope we win... I scouted next week's opponent in today's game and they have some really good players). You'll know more as I do.

Until then,

My New League Makes Me Happy :)

2008-12-19T00:25:00.000-08:00

I'm going to break with my habit of posting almost exclusively on NBA topics today. See, there's another League that has taken my interest lately. No, I'm not talking about Big West Basketball. That goes without saying. No, I'm talking about the Mar Vista Rec Center Winter League, Majors (10/11/12 years old) division. I will be taking the MVRC Jazz to the mountain top from my perch along the sideline. I'll try to list the times here so all of my many (2) readers can come and support the kids and see some good, clean, fundamentally sound basketball. After each game, I'll try and give a recap and include any significant stats, game trends or interesting/funny moments during the game.

We had our draft on Tuesday. We based the draft on rankings we determined by putting the kids through basketball drills a week earlier and rating each basketball skill on a 1 to 5 scale, then averaging those scores for a final number. Some of the kids weren't able to make it to the evaluation day, so the coaches who knew them gave us all rankings based on what they knew about their athletic abilities and basketball skills. Now, the fact that all of the other coaches in the league have sons playing created some interesting dialogue. Here's one of my favorites:

Coach 1: How would you Rank your son?

Coach 2: Umm... I would say he's about a ... uhh... four or so.

Coach 3: No! There's no way your Kid's a four. I'd Say a two. 2.5 at BEST.

Coach 2: ...Um ... Oh.

That's great! You're basically telling the guy that his kid sucks. Yes, I'd say a good time was had by all. I ended up with what looks like a pretty good team. Now, I can't wait to get all the kids in the gym and start practicing. As I was drafting, I kept in mind the different ways that we could use the players' skill sets to our team's advantage. Originally, I thought that we might do a 40 minute full court press a la Rick Pitino, but that was shut down quickly when I found out that I don't control substitution patterns. I'm not trying to tire out all of my kids. I'm going to love this! I know that it's not much, but for someone who loves basketball as much as I do, this is going to be GREAT!!! I'll keep you all (both) updated.

In other news, one of my friends from college, Ross Schraeder, was caught up in a great YouTube Moment in Spain recently. Yeah, that's him with the double-low-fist celebration. Good Job on the Buzzer-Beater, Ross. Keep up the good work! It was kind of an illegal pick, but with .9 seconds left, it's not called "illegal", it's just "Savvy".

Fantasy Basketball Update #3 (Trades: The Alpha Factor!!!)

2008-11-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

OK, so we discussed draft strategies and the folly of overreacting to Two DNPCDs to start the season in our last update. Now let's discuss another aspect of your 30 week odyssey into Basketball Geekdom; namely, Trades. I'm not talking about the fantasy trades that only affect how well your opposition is doing relative to your own team. I'm talking about real-world, NBA-League trades. Sometimes, those trades can give a player you have a sudden, unexpected fantasy boost, sometimes, your player ends up losing out. For instance, let's say you have Allen Iverson and he plays for... I don't know, let's say the Nuggets. But then, he gets traded to... just for the sake of argument, let's say he gets traded to the Detroit F'ing PISTONS! Well, then you might see his stats take a hit from a trade like that. Don't worry though, it shouldn't be anything drastic. He shouldn't go from top 5 in scoring with 7+ assists to 17 points and 3 assists. Right? I'm going to cry.

OK, so I'm back. Let's talk about the other side of these NBA Trades. Sometimes, you look at the NBA and there are trades that seem so obvious at the time that they're made that you just ask yourself "Why didn't the Commish (AKA the accomplice) just mandate this one at the beginning of the season?" Al Harrington got traded to New York for Jamaal Crawford. How perfect is that!?!?! This trade takes one valuable fantasy player and creates 3 high-quality fantasy players with a single swipe of the pen. Crawford is a good player. But he's no All Star. He doesn't have the personality or the game to Rule a city like New York. But in Golden State, where they sell out 50 loss teams and stand up rooting like it's the final four? He will be treated like a king. The fact that he shoots too often and doesn't really give your team a chance to win won't matter, which means that Don Nelson will be free to play him at the 3 alongside Stephen Jackson with both of them jacking up half-court fallaway threes with two guys on them. Throw Monta Ellis in the mix, driving into two seven footers and just throwing it off the back-board a la Dwayne Wade, but without the accuracy or the foul calls... a la Flip Murray... Well, Let's just call this team the "7 passes or less" era for Golden State. If the guards make more than 20 passes in a game, everyone in attendance gets a free Chalupa from Taco Bell!!!

Look at New York's end of the Deal, though. Not only do you get a shooting "big-man" to go alongside David Lee, but you free up time on the floor (and thus, shot attempts) for Nate Robinson. Harrington was not happy in Golden State for whatever reason. Now he's going to the only other Coach in the league that will absolutely correctly utilize his exact offensive skill set while gleefully ignoring his glaring defensive deficiencies (read: Steve Nash, 2-time MVP, 438th out of 367 in Defensive Player of the year voting).

Interesting side note here: The two best offensive head coaches, who play nearly the exact same style of basketball made a trade involving players who were built and trained to only play in that type of system. This is like the Rockets trading Shane Battier for Bruce Bowen. It's a once-every-ten-seasons trade that makes perfect sense for every single person involved. From the parties traded, to the other members of the teams they were traded to/from, the coaches and even for the franchises and the fans. And speaking of those coaches, everyone knows that Nelson practically invented NBA Small Ball. I mean, we call it "Nellie-Ball" for defense' sake. But I think D'Antoni has perfected it. Nelson said that he could win without defense, as long as his players could rebound, run fast and shoot. And he was right. But D'Antoni had this crazy idea that his players should also be able to pass to the open man so that guy could take the shot. Simple, obvious, should have been done from the start. Just like this trade.

The NBA: Where "Why didn't I think of that?" Happens

RIP Pete Newell

2008-11-17T23:49:00.000-08:00

Pete Newell passed away today. For anyone who has enjoyed the game of basketball over the last 50 years, and especially if you, like I, have enjoyed watching the great post-players of the last half-century, then you understand why I couldn't sleep tonight without mentioning coach Newell first in this space. He has influenced nearly every post-player in the world and EVERY coach who teaches Low Post/High Post offense or defense on the West Coast.

I first learned about Pete Newell through his Big Man Camps because my favorite team, The Lakers, employs one of the longest tenured coaches for the Camp (Stu Lantz) as a color-commentator. Through his tutelage, and his philosophies on Post play and "Big-Man" play, some of the most famous and successful players have increased their skill level and overall knowledge of the game. Coaches the world over teach his techniques to their players because he his nuanced, results-oriented training approach has produced a list of basketball legends who quickly credit Pete Newell with helping them to improve their game as long as any coach you can name: Bobby Knight, Coach K, John Wooden... Pete Newell.

Here's a few of the names on that list that I can think of right now:

Kareem Abdul Jabaar
Jack Sikma
Bill Walton
Shaquille O'Neal
Alonzo Mourning
Hakeem Olajuwon
Moses Malone
Karl Malone
Patrick Ewing
David Robinson
Stu Lantz
Tim Duncan
Andrew Bogut
Shareef Abdur-Raheem
Derick Coleman

and plenty of others

A moment of silnce for Pete Newell:

...

...

...

...

Fantasy Basketball Update #2 (Damn You Scott Skiles!!!)

2008-11-14T00:31:00.000-08:00

OK, so a month ago, I went on and on about how much energy we put into something with the word "Fantasy" in its title. For me, at least, it has paid off. In the opening week, I won in all 5 of my Fantasy leagues. in 3 head to head match ups, I cam out on top and in two Rotisserie Leagues I was number 1. This, depite starting Ramon Sessions in Week 1 and Scott Skiles Vowing to forget that he exists and leave him on the end of the bench, as well as starting Deron Williams on the Same Fantasy team in a format that counts totals, not averages.

Well, this brings me to my real point here. If you are so damn stuck on Defense that you are willing to allow Offense to go by the wayside for FOUR SEASONS in Chicago; if you refuse to play players who don't earn their minutes defensively; if you claim to be a "True student of the game" who has his team playing a certain way and doesn't want to change because of popular opinion; and if these oh-so-strong core values of your are so important that you would basically flip off a guy who's being paid millions of dollars by your employer to do a job that you're not letting him do, just because he doesn't do it exactly like you think he should; then stick to your F'ing guns!!!!

Ramon Sessions got two DNP-CDs in his first two games this year, despite being the best Point guard on the team presumeably because he doesn't play defense. Now I could understand this if Joe Dumars was your other Point Guard. Or even Derek Fisher. But he sat Ramon Sessions for the "Defensive Juggernaut" known as Luke Ridnour. Just to put that in perspective, imagine parking your Lamborghini for your Pinto because the Lambo doesn't have any cup-holders built into it... Only, your Pinto's cup holders are too small to hold your cups. So your coffee keeps spilling into your lap and burning your right leg. Now imagine that the guy who sold you the Pinto told you before you bought it "Oh, don't try to use the cup holders. I know it says that it has cup holders, but they don't work. Trust me. I've tried it. It just won't work", and you still do it anyway.

That's what Scott Skiles did for the first few games causing me to say "You know what? Even though I spent more hours than Ramon Sessions' stalkers did keeping up with his movements, workouts and medical reports this summer. I knew that Skiles was more of a defensive-minded coach, but I didn't think he was insane. Clearly, he is insane and he's not going to play his best lineup because of a tiny little issue that he has. One that's not even resolved by playing the alternative. It's a lost cause, I shouldn't have drafted him in the Sixth Round. I'm going to drop him and pick up Wilson Chandler (who I'm not mad I picked up at all).

And, of course, as soon as offered to wash the Pinto, the Lamborghini comes out of the garage. And someone else swoops in to take him. Damnit! Damnit, Damnit, DAMNIT, Scott Skiles!!! A Pox on your house for further ruining a fantasy basketball team that already included injured superstars Deron Williams and Josh Smith. A Pox, I say!

Really? Mike D'Antoni Isn't The Early Favorite For Coach Of The Year?

2008-11-13T23:58:00.000-08:00

OK, so someone said to me a few months ago "Why do you even need a coach in professional sports? If they're being paid that much money, shouldn't they just be able to play?" Well, here is the difference that a coach can make. The Knicks come back with essentially the same team they had last year, and not only do they have a winning record (Anyone can have a winning record 8 games into the season) but they actually look good doing it. They have an offensive system that they all seem to believe in and D'Antoni is clearly a master at casting the right actors as the right characters in his plays (or lack-thereof). It's amazing what they're doing so far and I, for one, hope it continues. It's always nice to see the Knicks in the Playoffs because there is NO better atmosphere for a sporting event than MSG in May... except maybe MSG in June. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The NBA: Where "Injuries" Happens

2008-11-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

Greg Oden was the Number one pick in the draft. A year removed from high school, he was given the hopes of a franchise, along with a multi-million dollar contract and a plenty of endorsements. He then had micro-fracture surgery on his knee and it was declared that he would not play for at least a year.

So we waited. We waited for an entire year for him to make his debut. And on the eve of his return, the newspapers were littered with stories pitting him against Andrew Bynum - who had taken 8 months to come back from his own knee injury, four years after being drafted at 17 years old. The Matchup of 7'0", 285 pound, young centers could not be ignored. It was billed as everything from Olajuwon Vs. Robinson to Bush Vs. Ahmadinejad... And then, he got injured in the second play of the game. And then, yesterday, Andrew Bynum was hurt IN PRACTICE(!!!)

Deron Williams, Micheal Redd, Monta Ellis, Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas, Manu Ginobili, and of course Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, when they get injured around 45-60 games from now. The List of Big-Name Starters (and Manu Ginobili) getting hurt to start this NBA Season is enough to drive a guy away. I'm almost afraid to ask who's going down next. It just goes to show you exactly why people involved with teams always throw that little caveat in there when talking about their hopes for the season ("We could go all the way, barring any serious injury").

It's been a minute since I actually posted ANYTHING. I wanted to wait until the election was over (it's over for me, I voted this morning after waiting in line for over two hours) before I posted anything. Politics are important in this country, people. More important that sports (even basketball?). If you haven't voted yet tonight, and still can (HI, CA, OR, WA, AZ, AK, etc), I Urge you to hurry out to your polling place and do it. It's one of the most powerful decisions you'll make all year, and it only takes the stroke of a pen or the push of a button... or the touch of a screen or the depression of chad... Look, just vote, OK!!! And make your vote Count.

UPDATE [Friday, November 7th, 2008]: We didn't even get out of the week before another star player went down. Josh Smith will likely be out for about a month, thus ruining my fantasy league in which I picked up Deron Williams and Josh Smith 12th and 13th (Yeah, I picked last in my draft).

UPDATE [Friday, November 7th, 2008]: As if to prove my point, today shortly after Josh Smith's ankle fell off, Kirk Hinrich suffered a torn Ulnar Collateral Ligament because every team is trying to have at least one injured player before the week is out. Thankfully, for the Lakers, that one player is Sun Yue, who got Mono a couple of weeks ago.

UPDATE [Sunday, November 16th, 2008]: OK, so get this. For the last four years, T.J. Ford has been regarded as a good player who can change a game wiht his speed, passing and ballhandling ability, but one who just can't stay healthy. Last year, when he inevitably missed half of the season, his backup played better than he did and the team was better too. so this summer the Raptors traded Ford away to clear room for Jose Calderon to take over the starting position because you can't ever guess whether or not Ford will be in the lineup from one game to the next. Well, of course, Jose Calderon was held out of today's game and it's unsure how many games he will miss because of this injury. Meanwhile, TJ? Healthy as an ox. Ah, the NBA. "Where Irony Happens"

I don't care. It's not just Fantasy to me!!!

2008-10-14T02:26:00.001-07:00

So it's that time again, kids. The beginning of the NBA season is about 2 weeks away and while most people have gotten their fantasy teams ready to go, some people are still trying to get a few more owners for their leagues, or updating their player-rankings one more time before the draft. It's amazing how much time and effort we put into this stuff.

A friend of mine once asked me, after watching me spend no less than 16 hours with my pre-draft ranking of over 400 NBA players, "...And you're not getting paid for any of this?"

But what does she know? I may not be making any money, but I will win the right to call myself KING OF THE FANTASY REALM!!! Or at least brag to my friends that I beat them.

Here's my key to a successful Year of Fantasy Basketball - Superstars and Sleepers. Most Players in the NBA are going to average around 10 -13 points, 3-5 rebounds, 2-4 assists, etc, etc, etc. Now, while it's important to draft people who will be near the higher end of those averages, it's not going to make a huge difference. Those are the players that everyone is getting in the middle rounds. You'll hear people saying things like "Oh, he's still available, I have to take him there." or "I'll take him now, hopefully, he won't get injured." Not a big risk, not a big reward. Those are the middle rounds. In a 13 round draft, with a 12 team league, those would be approximately rounds 4 through 9. They're the fluffer rounds. Nothing Gained, nothing lost. Fantasy Basketball, though, is won at the beginning and the end.

See, everyone knows who they're going to pick first. You have your list of eleven or twelve players and if you're first, you know you're taking CP3 or LBJ, if you're 8th, you know you're taking Dwight Howard or Amare Stoudemire. Whatever it is, there's not much excitement. but rounds 2 and 3? That's when you get to look over last year's list of "budding superstars" and make that decision: "Who is going to take a step back because they can't handle the pressure (Bogut, Tinsley, etc) and who is going to break out of the pack? Who will be the next "Greatest thing since Sliced Bread"? Will it be Brandon Roy or Kevin Durant? Should you pick Danny Granger, Rudy Gay or Josh Smith? These are the questions that can make and break a season in those 2nd and third rounds. Last year, I felt that I was right on the money when I took Al Jefferson in the late 3rd round last year (34th overall pick). This year, there's no way he gets close to the end of the 1st round. My breakout SUPERSTAR picks for this year are - in order:

Josh Smith
Brandon Roy
Danny Granger
Rudy Gay
Tony Parker (at least until Manu gets healthy)
Jamal Crawford (He will remind you of Bernard King and score 40 at least 5 times this year)
Lamarcus Aldridge
note: I know that all of these players are already good. TP already has a finals MVP to his credit, after all. But this is the list of players that, after you see what they do this year, you will think "There's no way I'm letting him get past me in the first round next year (a la Amare Stoudemire).

But that's not all you have to manage. Because, while picking the right breakout candidate can move you from middle-of the pack- to leader-of-the-pack, if you want to leave the pack behind you, you're going to need at least one sleeper. What is a "sleeper", you ask? Well, that's someone who is "Slept On", and then has a good showing that no one really expected them to have. Now, this is the biggest kept secret in Fantasy Sports because the minute that someone get some hype around them, they're no longer a sleeper. I.E. Greg Oden, who is overvalued in Fantasy Circles right now just because of his name. He could have been a nice sleeper candidate if people hadn't been talking about him so much since high school. However, he's got a couple of team mates who might qualify.

Here's my list of sleepers (since no one really reads my blog, I can go ahead and put them out there. But don't tell anyone that I'm in a league with because I don't want them to take my guys before I can get to them in the last couple of rounds.

Ramon Sessions
Nate Robinson (I'll take a small, quick Point Guard playing for D'Antoni any day)
Derrik Rose (he'll be even better than the being the #1 pick would indicate - and soon)
Rudy Fernandez (Maybe not a sleeper after his showing at the Olympics)
Marc Gasol (See note for Rudy Fernandez)
Daequon Cook

If any of these guys are still available and you don't know who to pick last - take one of them. You can't go wrong. Especially with Ramon Sessions. He's going to be the next Jose Calderon and you'll want him on your team and probably try to trade for him by December.

Who wants to go to a Sparks Game?

2008-09-09T01:33:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to go to a sparks game on Thursday... or maybe against Seattle on Sunday. Do any of my two readers want to join me?

So football started this week, and, like most people in the country, I was watching. And like most people who live in Los Angeles, I was watching, somewhat. But no matter what sport I'm watching, my heart is always with Basketball. LeBron was at Cleavland's game on Sunday. Carmelo was Baltimore's honorary team captain for the day. See what I mean? I see it everywhere I go.

I'm going to try to pursue a career in basketball. I'm not sure, yet, what that will entail. I'd love to coach, but I don't have the experience, nor the expertise needed for that. Or to be a scout. Or really anything. Maybe I should get a reality show a la "New York Goes to Hollywood" to chronicle my journey into the world of sports professionals.

I have begun by writing all the contacts that I have on organized basketball teams and asking for advice. And we'll see if he writes or calls me. I'm thinking about going to ASU (American Sports University, not Arizona State) to take classes in coaching and Sports Journalism, while doing a little networking with other up and coming sports professionals. Updates on this will follow.

Stay tuned for next week's WNBA Preview.

Until next time Bat fans,

Where Have I Been? Where Have YOU Been?

2008-08-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hey you! Yeah, you. The guy who likes to write about basketball. Yeah, you. You know, there's a little tournament going on right now in this gym in Beijing that you might be a little interested in.

Ok, so I know it's been a minute or two since I last wrote anything. In case you didn't know, there are sports in existence other than basketball (I was as shocked to find this out as you are). The Olympics has been a joy to watch. Not just because I enjoy sports or for all of the normal reasons. Because NBC.com has the best Olympic coverage EVER! Now this is not to say that other networks didn't do great jobs in their own rights. But the technology that NBC has at its disposal is so far advanced compared to just four years ago, it's astounding. My main problem with the Olympics has always been that during the opening ceremony, we see all of these different countries and cultures coming together to compete. Then we see two weeks of America and it's over. This year's coverage has been unparalleled for several reasons:

First of all, this year, NBC has 5 different channels covering the Olympics, some of which are minimally interactive, all of which are recording and broadcasting every jump, hurl, stroke, sprint dive and toss in beautiful High Definition. In the past, it was unnecessary because not too many people had High Definition televisions in 2000 and in 2004, it was still too expensive to broadcast that much HD programing. Maybe one channel would have been in HD in 2004 with the rest in standard definition.

But that doesn't solve my main problem, because, even with 5 different channels, the only event I have been able to watch thus far that did not directly involve at least one American has been the Women's Beach Volleyball match up between Russia and Georgia yesterday (Georgia beat Russia 2 sets to 1, while being outscored 47-53, if you're interested). Evidently, the NBC Execs thought that the burgeoning war between the two countries provided enough drama to justify televising the two countries' volleyball match. So while the five channels does allow me to watch everything from Badminton to women's weightlifting, if I want to watch the finals in Greco-Wrestling, or Group B in Womens and Men's Basketball, for that matter, I'm out of luck.

In steps the internet! In 2004, the technology existed for streaming video to be fed over the internet. In fact, it was widely used. I had a 3 mbps download speed back then and all the capability of using the technology. But 3 was fast for the time and still is a far cry from the most common speed today - 6! Now, in 2008, EVERYBODY has broadband internet. It's as common as the telephone - many of which are run through broadband internet services now. And NBC is taking full advantage of this fact. You can literally watch every single second of every single sport, whenever you want.

You can even watch up to four sports at once right from your browser! To give you an idea of what this can do to someone, just take a look at what it has done to me. We are on day 6 of the Olympics and I have not gotten a full 3 hours of consecutive sleep in 1 week. In that time, I have found time Around my 3 jobs to watch:

Women's Basketball (haven't missed an American game yet)
Women's Table-Tennis
Men's Basketball (Watched two replays online, but seen each game)
Men's Badminton
Women's Fencing
Men's Fencing
Women's Cycling
Men's Cycling
Women's Weightlifting
Men's Weightlifting
Women's Team Gymnastics
Men's Team Gymnastics
Women's individual Gymnastics
Men's Individual Gymnastics
Women's Rowing (team of 4)
Men's Rowing (team of 4)
Women's Rowing (team of 2)
Men's Rowing (team of 2)
Women's Indoor Volleyball (Oooh, those Brazilian women!!!)
Men's Indoor Volleyball
Women's Beach Volleyball
Men's Beach Volleyball
Women's Soccer
Men's Soccer
Women's Field Hockey
Men's Boxing
Women's Softball
Men's Baseball
Women's Swimming
Men's Swimming
Women's Team Archery
Men's Team Archery
Women's Individual Archery
Men's Individual Archery
Women's Judo
Men's Judo
Men's Greco-Wrestling
Men's Kayaking
Men's Taekwondo
Women's Shooting (Air Rifles, I think)
Men's Shooting (Air Rifles, I think)
Women's Handball (That was weird. I had never seen it and it's like soccer mixed with basketball... Just weird)
Women's Equestrian (can't we just call it cowgirl?)
Men's Water Polo

I think that might be it for now, but keep in mind that it's only day 6 and I'm about to wet myself just thinking about the next week. So that explains why I haven't been writing, right? Before the Olympics started, I was watching the prelims and trials. How could I be expected to do things like Blog, and sleep when there are so many sports to watch?

Anyway, about the Basketball teams:

First the women. I Know I've said it before, but Candace Parker is Amazing. I just want to see her dunk on Margo Dydek! That would cap off a perfect summer for her so far. And speaking of Candace Parker, how bad do you feel for Anthony Parker? Probably the only NBA player who knows deep down that his little sister could beat him in a pickup game. Yesterday, I was thinking about how cool it will be to see the US women win Gold again (Four times in a row after this Olympics is over) and know that they are only the second - or maybe even third most dominate American Women's team. And not far from fourth. Here's how I have it ranked:

#1 - Women's Softball: Haven't gotten anything less than gold in any international competition (World Championships, Pan-Am games, Olympics, etc.) since International competition in the sport began back in the mid-eighties. In their opening game of the Olympics this year, they set a record for most runs scored in the Olympics by ANY team by the fourth inning... and at the same time, they threw a shared no-hitter. The game was stopped early on the "Mercy Rule". So far, they have not given up a hit in the Olympics.

#2 - Women's Basketball: Lisa, Candace, Seimone and company are going for their fourth straight Olympic Gold Medal. The US Women have not lost a single Olympic game since 1992 semifinal game and ended up 8-1 that year. Since then, they are a staggering 27-0 in Olympic competition. So far, they are winning their games this year by an average of 47 points per game including a 56 point win against Mali. Now let's put that in perspective. The 1992 "Dream Team", which included Magic Johnson, Micheal Jordan, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Stockton to Malone, David Robinson and about 5 other Hall of Fame players (and Christian Laettner) but contained ZERO opposition from any other teams, won their games by an average margin of about 41 points. Their Largest margin of Victory? 50 Vs. Angola. I'd say this team is good, but that would be giving the word "Good" too much credit.

#3 - Women's Beach VolleyBall: Every once in a while, we get to see a pair of truly dominant individuals who come together to become so much more than their individual selves. Micheal Jordan and Phil Jackson in 1996, Mohammad Ali and Howard Cossel in the 1970s, Serena and Venus Williams during the Wimbledon Doubles competition in 2002, Snoop and Dr. Dre in the early nineties, Mario and Luigi in 1986, Chaz Micheal Micheals and Jimmy McElroy during the 2007 ice skating doubles at the winter Olympics. What I'm trying to stress is that the teaming of Misty May-Treanor and Keri Walsh has created a duo of historic proportions. They have now won about 100 straight matches. No, that is not a typo. They simply do not lose. Period. Watch them play. Just watch them. It's like losing is against their religion. You'll see Jews and Muslims gathered 'round a table pork chops and hamhocks together before you see them submit to losing. I'm convinced. The only reason they aren't higher on this list is because the two teams above them win in such demoralizingly perfect fashion. Still, neither of the teams above can claim the kind of winning streak that Treanor-Walsh can. And most people never will. Not even the '72 Lakers could boast such a long list of consecutive losers in their path.

#4 - Women's Fencing: It's Hard to rank this women's fencing team 4th on ANY list. Individually, they just swept with three medals, and now they're fighting on the same team. Need I say more? Well then let me repeat that. Individually, US Women took home the Gold, Silver AND Bronze, and now they will compete together against a bunch of people who couldn't beat any of them apart.

I know that wasn't all about the Women's Basketball team, but... whatever. Sue me. I'll post on the Men's Basketball team tomorrow.

Until then, sports fans,

OMG!!! What the hell was that, Brand?

2008-07-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I thought that none of the Big names this year would be talked about that much on this space. Well I was wrong. This is my Sad-Angry-Brand Rant. Ever since before he entered the league, in '99, I loved to watch Elton Brand Play. I never wanted Duke to win so bad. When Chicago picked him, I kind of secretly rooted for Chicago. He's just a great player and a nice guy and he's fun to watch, and he clearly wants nothing more than to win. That's why, when the Clippers Drafted Tyson Chandler and promptly traded him for Elton Brand, I was ecstatic! More than ecstatic, I was in near Nirvana.

When we came one Tim Thomas 3 pointer away from an L.A. - L.A. Hallway Series in the Playoffs a couple of years ago, I cheered my heart out for a player who was everything that, historically, the franchise was not. Even when he missed about 65 games in a season, but came back for the last 10 or so, I was impressed to no end. I mean, who has a guaranteed contract and still does that? There was no way the team was going to win a Championship - Hell, they were 20 games out of the playoffs with 10 to play. Three teams' entire rosters would have had to have fallen off the face of the earth simultaneously to even consider putting them in the playoffs. But There was Elton Brand, Second Game of his season, playing like it was game 7 of the NBA Finals.

And if that wasn't enough to make me love him, when he opted out of his contract on June 30th, he and his agent played it to everyone like it was an act of charity (presumably, Brand was going to give up about 2-4 million dollars in order to provide the team the financial flexibility to bring in Baron Davis. See, Baron Davis also opted out of his contract unexpectedly on June 30th, then quickly committed to a verbal agreement with the Clippers on July 1st. All I saw were pictures of Baron and Elton together (they are both friends and movie producers who it would make sense to have together in Los Angeles). I even told several people myself, "Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, Baron Davis, Al Thornton... The Clippers are going to make some noise next year." It was that much of a slam dunk. But there was one thing that I forgot. The Clippers are the Kwame Browns of NBA Franchises. The Ryan Leafs of the sports world. Even a slam dunk can clang off the back of the rim and bounce 3000 miles away.

See, I understood when he signed that offer sheet with Miami in 2003. It made sense then. The Clippers said that they would match any offer, but who really believed them? Their entire history had been a business school lesson on running an NBA Franchise - Successful Failure 101: How to make money without winning, EVER. But then the unthinkable happened. They matched offers for two players resulting in the spending over 130 million dollars that summer. Now they were for real! Now, they were going to matter! Now, they had one of the best low-post presences in Basketball locked up for 5 years!!! And they continued their commitment to trying to WIN through this summer by letting Maggette go ONLY so that they could add Baron Davis to the bunch. What could go wrong?

But the player who played just for the sake of playing; the player who almost added "Generous" to a list of adjectives to describe him that already included "Ferocious", "intense", "Committed" and "Hard-Working"; the player who made us all believe it was possible for a Clippers team to be good; he left. Why? Because Philadelphia offered him more money. Considerably more money than the Clippers could after agreeing to terms with Davis. And I understand all of this. Hell, if somebody offered me an extra 2 dollars an hour right now, I would put in my two weeks notice tomorrow morning. But it's about the way that he left. Players leave all the time. Lamar Odom Did it a few years ago when he signed with Miami and told the organization "Please don't match the offer". Maggette is probably signing a contract with the Warriors as I type this. I understand all of this and wished them both the best when they left. But this... This is Carlos-Boozer-esque.

The problem isn't that he left. It's about HOW he left. I was content before he came loving the Clippers from a distance, unconditionally, no matter how many games they lost. I was happy content having something to root for in the lottery every year. But then he came and made me think that something speacial was going to happen. That there was a chance. I don't remember a summer since he got here when I thought "The Clippers are going to be Really bad next year"... until he left and toook the franchise's hopes and dreams with him.

I never thought that I would or could ever feel like this, but I want Elton Brand to Lose. A LOT. I wish he weren't going to Philly. That's a respectable franchise. That's the franchise of Allen Iverson, Charles Barkeley and so many others. I wish he were going to Oklahoma where they have no franchise to sit around and not even exist for the next 5 years. I don't wish any particular harm as far as his well being, but as far as his basketball career goes, I wish him no good. None whatsoever.

A Dark Day in Washington State

2008-07-02T20:32:00.000-07:00

Today, Seattle is a little grungier, a little rainier, and just that much more depressing. Kurt Cobain could never have written a song tumultuous enough, nor sang it with enough angst to truly capture the spirit of the Seattle Supersonic fan on July 2nd, 2008. This day will go down in infamy as one of the darkest in American Basketball history.

In a stunning, unbelievable turn of events today, Seattle Mayor, Greg Nickels signed a settlement agreement with Clay "Son of Satan" Bennett in the amount of forty-five million dollars up front with a possible additional 30 million dollars to come. A total of $75,000,000.00 was enough to get the mayor to part with the team that has come to symbolize Seattle culture for almost half a century.

My only question is, how much did Nickel get under the table for this deal? Today, a Seattle area judge was supposed to come out and tell Clay "I Have Too Many Consonants in my name" Bennett "Screw you and the $350,000,000.00 horse you rode in on. You can't have my team!!! Instead, that Judge went home tonight knowing that it was officially out of her hands. The team that she grew up watching, cheering for and eventually loving was going away - hijacked from the city by a billionaire and his buddies (read: David Stern) and delivered, as he originally intended, to his hometown of Oklahoma City.

Let me say that I am not upset with the people of Oklahoma City. It is understandable that you would want an NBA Franchise. Nothing can really compare to the product the NBA offers. I understand it. We Angelinos love it enough for TWO NBA Teams. And after having Chris Paul in your city for most of two season, I certainly feel for you. But this was simply not the right way to do this. If Clay "Middle-aged-Dennis-the-Menace" Bennett really wanted to own an NBA franchise, he should have done one of two things: petition for an expansion team, or buy and move a team that didn't have the kind of support and history that the Seattle Supersonics have - er, had. Toronto is a choice. They've had some good players and currently have a pretty nice roster, but they aren't, historically, what Toronto is about. Honestly, you could have just tried to buy the Hornets when they were already playing in Oklahoma City. Heck, Memphis hasn't even been in Memphis for a decade yet! I'm sure the fans there aren't THAT attached to Darko and Kwame. As much as I would hate to admit it, Los Angeles doesn't treat the Clippers right when they aren't winning... even they - with almost 30 years in Los Angeles - would have been a better choice than Seattle.

Instead, you buy a team and say all the right things, "I want to stay here in Seattle", "We're in WASU for the long haul"... while secretly emailing things like "It might take a year or two, but we'll get them to Oklahoma.

...

...I can't even think about the levels of treachery right now. I'm so upset with my NBA team owners for approving the move! I can't even stand it. So now the Sonics have the option of getting the next expansion team or pulling the Grizzlies to Seattle when they get sold. At least they get to keep the name, colors and logo for the next franchise in the Pacific Northwest. And speaking of the Pacific Northwest, you know what would be cool? If Greg Oden won the Rookie of the Year next year and had a 18 year grudge match with Interstate-5 rival Kevin Durant (this year's winner) and it resuscitated the league like Bird-Magic and the fact that they're so close and naturally rivals played into... oh wait, that will NEVER HAPPEN NOW!!!

I officially renew my vow to never, EVER, acknowledge the existence of the Oklahoma City Dusty Tumbleweeds, or whatever they're going to be called, except to make disparaging remarks about Clay "I Steal Babies From Church" Bennett. And if you didn't read my previous postings on the subject, this includes missing Lakers Games, even in the playoffs, if necessary.

The one, last hope is that Howard Shultz, the Coffee guy, can regain ownership through his lawsuit. Read about it in the first link. I'll keep you all posted as I find out more information.

And they're off!!!

2008-07-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Free Agency starts today in the NBA and teams are already clamoring to capture the biggest names and the best players, hoping to make a Kevin-Garnett-esque addition to their team this year and compete for a title.

Well, everyone knows about Baron Davis and Elton Brown. Most people know about Kirk Luol Deng and Monta Ellis. But what really makes a successful off-season is the depth chart.

Last year, This year's two finals teams looked much different than they did as they matched up against each other this June. And while most people will point to Boston's off-season acquisition of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, and Los Angeles' mid-season trade to bring in Pau Gasol, those moves only tell a small part of the story.

Last year, when Kevin Garnet moved to Boston, his Gargantuan Contract displaced four other players. Add that to the earlier departure of Ray Allen to the Sonics for three players and a draft pick, and you've litterally erased Half of Boston's Team. What's more, two key players from lat year's team didn't return for other reasons (And just as I was getting so anxious to revel in the confusion of Ray Allen and Allan Ray playing on the same team!!!) What's important to note, then, is that after the acquisition of KG, Boston didn't just rest on its Laurels. Instead, they went out and got James Posey (the guy Shaq said "We definitely wouldn't have been able to win a championship with out him" about), Eddie "I can play any style of basketball for 48-minutes-a-night" House, and, later, Sam "The-Anti-Rondo" Cassell. No one will ever know for sure whether or not the Celtics would have won without these key off-season pickups, but what we do know is that they won the Championship WITH them.

The Lakers, meanwhile, went a different route. Last year this time, it was just coming out how miserably ineffective Kobe would be as a GM ("Andrew Bynum? Are you kidding me? This is Jason Kidd! Trade his ass"). For the Lakers, they were thinking "Stability", moreso than shaking up the entire roster. They wanted to convince Kobe to stay and that meant stability. So they turned to an old friend, Derek Fisher. A self described "33 year old Point Guard who just averaged 3 assists per game", but someone who has always been a voice of reason and rationality, a calming hand and a steady ball handler. By the time Andrew Bynum Got injured, the Lakers, with essentially the same squad as a year before, but with Derek Fisher taking the place of Smush Parker, were number 1 in the conference. I'm not making this up. Check the standings from that day. The Lakers had a better record than San Antonio, New Orleans and, yes even Phoenix.

The Addition of Gasol definitely helped them out, but it was Derek who helped them change team around first.

So I said all of this to say that if your team doesn't get Gilbert Arenas or Antawn Jamison or Baron Davis or Elton Brown this Summer, don't feel bad. You never know. Janero Pargo might just be the cog that makes your team's machine run. Stay tuned for all of the pertinent information as I see it.

-'Till next time, folks!

"And there's no kneecap there, as you'll notice."

2008-06-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know that you're all expecting me to talk about the Lakers' win over the Celtics yesterday in game 5 of the NBA Finals. Honestly, I'm just really busy right now and don't have time to really disect that game or even begin to MENTION that atrocious game four COLLAPSE!!! ... Even though I just mentioned it...

...Anyway, I just saw this news headline on NBA TV while taking a break from work: "Clippers G Shaun Livingston cleared for basketball activities. Are you kidding me?!?!?! In case you don't remember, about a year and a half ago, Livingston tried to become an overnight contortionist, and it didn't work out for him. This was just nasty, and I wouldn't watch it if you're easily nauseated!!! Ralph Lawler's reaction to it was priceless and really caught the emotion of the building, I thought, when he said "...Oh Dear... oh..." I was going to put the video on here, but you really shouldn't be subjected to that video (Or the inevitable montage of soccer injuries that will follow... and especially not that footage of Allan Ray's Eye) without proper warning.

Anyway, Congratulations to Shaun Livingston, who is a very nice kid and has worked hard just to get back to the point where he can put pressure on his leg, much less walk on it and do the unbelievable - play basketball t an NBA level again.

Blogging the Finals - Game 1

2008-06-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

I'm talking on the phone with my brother right now. He asked what I mean by blogging the game. This is where I watch the game and post on my blog intermittently while watching the game. You'll hear some of the little things involved with the game, the telecast, the people I'm watching the game with... pretty much whatever I'm doing while watching the game, If I find it interesting enough to tell somebody, I'll type it and you'll read about it.

6:02, they just finished the introductions and now ABC is showing a really cheesy intro graphic... actually, it's kind of cool. A virtual walk through the hallway and onto the court while seeing images from some of the past 65 NBA Champions.

6:04, Mike Breen (SP?) has a band-aid over his left eye. I can only imagine that Mark Jackson Punched him for stealing his lunch money.

...The Coaches' pre-game speeches really define the differences between their styles. While PJ is busy telling the team about how Boston likes to get off to fast starts, Doc is babbling about "tri-angulation"??? and trying not to look into the camera as he talks, kind of like people that real world cast members visit for the first time since they've been on the show. They know they're not supposed to look into the camera and they're supposed to act normal, but neither really happens.

6:20...OK, I like Derek Fisher. I like him a LOT!!! But let's do the math, shall we, Mark Jackson? We'll use a 10 point to negative 10 point scale. You take away Smush Parker, who is at best a 2, at worst, a negative 4 and add D-Fish, who is at worst a 3 and at best a 6. Take away Smush and add D-Fish you get between a +1 and a +8. But you take away Kwame Brown (-3 to -7) and add Pau Gasol (+6 to +8) and you get anywhere from a +9 to a +15. The Pau trade was definitely more important!

6:24...OK, Garnet just put the Celtics up 12-10 on a series of great post-up moves that ended up with a near dunk that ended up being a goal tend on Odom. But he went toward the basket. Twice now. I GUARANTEE that he won't do that in a close fourth quarter, especially in an elimination game. But not even tonight. Mark my words.

...OK, my bad. I haven't posted anything since halfway through the first quarter. The Lakers are about to lose now which of course makes my prediction incorrect. But I still believe that the Lakers can win in 6. It helps to have three straight in Los Angeles.

Singing off.

Finals Prediction

2008-06-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

This was supposed to go after the Finals Analysis, but I need to get my prediction for the Finals out there before the finals begin. I'll continue the analysis later on, but if I don't get this prediction out there yet, I'll feel like it's not valid.

I Think the Lakers' best chance to win a game in Boston is Game 1. They will come out aggressively, Phil Jackson will do some things on defense that will confuse Doc Rivers, who won't properly counter it at half time and in the end, Kobe will be too much for Boston to handle so they'll win the first game.

In game two, I think Boston will come back with a "F-U, I'm not losing two straight at home" attitude and either Blow the Lakers out, or just win demonstratively.

When the Series switches back to LA, there's no way the Lakers (KOBE and Vujacic, especially) will allow themselves to be handled like there were in game 2. Lakers by at least 8 in Game 3. It's Tought to win three straight at home in the 2-3-2 format, so I'll give Boston game 4, with the Lakers taking game 5 and a 3-2 advantage with them back to Boston.

Once Boston is on the ropes 3-2, expect Rajon Rondo to try to do everything on his own. Lakers will wrap it up then.

Prediction: Lakers in six

Finals Analysis Part V

2008-06-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

Part I, II, III, IV

Ahh, my favorite position. The freaks, the bruisers, the seven-foot and uppers!!! The low-post scorers:

Center

Lakers: Pau Gasol
Pau Gasol is a little more than 7 feet tall. Let's call him 7'1". He is a bonafide low-post scorer who commands a double team against even the best of defenders (Tim Duncan, Marcus Camby) and can reliably shoot jump shots out to about 18 feet. Once again, he is a Lakers Big man with an excellent interior passing touch who doesn't mind giving it up. He's also long, quick on his feet and has an eye for the ball. He gets to rebounds that you think he shouldn't get to and tracks down the rare occasional pass from his teammates with ease, while always seeming to know exactly where the basket is in relation to his position and that of his defender(s). Lately, though, he has been missing a lot of contested layups and what Shaq calls "Chippy" shots around the basket. You get hit more in the Playoffs and the longer you stay in, the more you get hit. Gasol hasn't quite learned to adjust to that at this point. Hopefully he'll figure it out soon.

Celtics: Kendrick Perkins
Remember in 2004 when the Lakers had Gary Payton, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Shaquille O'Neal, but then they had to put five people on the floor so Deavan George Started? Remember how Charles Barkely said that it wasn't impressive that George was shooting 52% on 3 pointers halfway through the season because "you could put George of The Jungle out there with those other four guys"? Remember that? Well, That's Kendrick Perkins to me. He's highly capable of doing his job - which is to defend, make open dunks/layups when asked and pull down rebounds when they come his direction. But it just isn't very impressive when standing next to Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and - yes - even Rajon Rondo. The things I just said Kendrick Perkins does, that's what he can do. There was the one game where he had 114 rebounds in the first quarter against Detroit, but his Nearly averaging a low double-double against Detroit was Very Impressive for him. At barely 6'10, he's not even the tallest member of their team and is actually shorter than all three members of the Lakers' front line of Radmonovic, Odom and Gasol. He's strong though, and if Jason Maxiell can guard Dwight Howard, he shouldn't just get absolutely abused in the post by Gasol. However, don't expect him to really bother Gasol's hook shots in the lane and don't be surprised when Gasol's baseline dropsteps yield positive results early and often. In my opinion, the best way to defend against Gasol would be to give him single coverage with Perkins on the catch and a quick double team in the post, but not until the dribble. It makes no Sense to double Gasol as soon as he gets the ball because he's a much better passer when he's not thinking about dribbling than after he puts the ball down and the Lakers are great cutters. Otherwise, they can try another cross-match where Garnett guards Gasol and Perkins guards Odom. Of course, that would have to be situational because there is no way in Heavean, Earth or Hell that Perkins will stay with Lamar if he steps out to the three point arc and decides to go around him.

Advantage: Lakers

Part I, II, III, IV

Finals Analysis Part IV

2008-06-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

Part I, II, III, V

Ok, so this might be the most interesting matchup of the series. It's the only direct match up that involves two stars - at least by position, anyway.

Power Forward

Lakers: Lamar Odom

Star might be a little bit of a stretch for Lamar. He's got the skills to be in the All Star game every year, but doesn't quite have the mentality for it. Last season, people were talking about him as an All Star Reserve through the first couple months of the season, but then an extended injury kept him off of his first roster for the mid-season classic. Many people are perplexed about Odom because he's got skills to rival just about any big man in the history of the Game. At 6'10", with arms so long he once said that he didn't let them hang as a child because he was self conscious about it, he can defend at any position and plays an interesting role for Phil Jackson in the Triangle offense. Lamar plays point guard on at least 15 to 20 possessions per game. If you watch closely, you'll notice that in addition to when he rebounds the ball and immediately starts the fast break by rushing up the court, he is often placed at the top of the key and given the ball to start the half-court offense. But it's not just a quirk of the offense or a mere demonstration of versatility to give the guards some extra rest time on the bench - though that doesn't hurt. More on this in Part VI.

Odom does everything on the court very well, but doesn't do anything GREAT... Well, except for rebound! He seems to have Velcro on his hands at times. Also, his interior passing and passing out of double team does a great job of keeping the ball moving, which helps the Lakers create problems with their crisp ball moving. The ball always moves more when Odom is in the game and if John Wooden's 9 championships are any indication, having at least a 3:1 pass to shot attempt ratio helps win games.

Celtics: Kevin Garnett

You just can't say enough about this guy. I want so badly to root for him, just because he really does deserve to win at least once. He's SOO good defensively, Soo great on the low block offensively. He's selfish, unassuming, yet inspiring and intense. I know it sounds like I'm describing a politician, not a basketball player but maybe that's appropriate. When Kevin went to Boston, he completely rearranged the culture there and changed the course of at least 6 different players' careers. He is one of the best Power Forwards of all time and to compare Lamar Odom to him isn't even fair. It's like Comparing Superman to Batman. I mean, sure, Batman is great! He's a hero. If you need saving, you hope he's around figuring out how to do it. But if you had your choice when you're falling off the building, you'll go with Clark Kent 7 days out of 7.

Advantage: Celtics

Part I, II, III, V

Finals Analysis Part III

2008-06-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Part I, II, IV, V

After today's section, I have officially convinced myself that this will be a very tightly contested finals and one of the best series we've seen since Utah/Chicago '98.

Small Forward

Lakers: Vladimir Radmonovic

6’10, nearly 40% career three point accuracy. That pretty much sums him up. He won’t be accused of being a great defender, but as a 6’10 small forward, he has the size to bother his often-smaller counterparts. He has a great “Basketball IQ”, which is something that’s often just thrown around a lot (I’ll later use it to describe Luke Walton) but it really does explain a why some players with superior physical gifts make it in the NBA and others don’t (think Isaiah Rider Vs. John Stockton). I wouldn’t have said this about him just a year ago, but he really does understand what’s supposed to be going on in the game and he makes an effort to make it happen. His offensive basketball IQ is much higher than his defensive basketball IQ, which is one reason that he gets an abnormally large amount (almost 30%)of his rebounds on the offensive end.

He’s not very quick, but he is a capable ball handler when open or when someone is rushing at him to stop his deadly outside shot. Vlade’s best quality on the floor is his interior passing/post entry passing skills. These are under rated, but important factors to consider when doing a scouting report for him.

Celtics: Paul Pierce

OK, this is another one where the comparison is just not fair. At about 6’7, Paul Pierce is more of a big guard than a small forward. The Celtic’s best all-around Player, Paul Pierce is a greatly under-rated defender (though that perception is starting to change as people get an extended post-season view of him), an above average ball-handler, passer and shooter (he once was second in the league in 3 pointers made) a deceptive rebounder and knows how to take over the game offensively when he needs to. He can create a shot for himself or for anybody else on the team, and really play the point-forward role.

The thing that really strikes me here is that he’s an L.A. guy. Pierce Graduated from Inglewood High School and every time he comes back home, he puts on a show! He loves to play well against the team he grew up rooting for and when the Celtics play on the road in Los Angeles, it’s almost like a home game for him – you know, away from the court. He can get home cooking when he wants it, has plenty of friends around if he needs them; he knows the area and doesn’t have to stay in a hotel. This can make his game flow much nicer than being on the road in an unfamiliar setting and can spell trouble for the Lakers. What’s worse, there is no earthly way that Vladimir Radmonovic should be able to even dream about guarding him. Vladimir should be having nightmares right now just imagining what Pierce is going to do to him. Like I said before, this will be one of many cross match ups in this series. Pierce creates problems for the Lakers that are very similar to the ones Kobe Creates for the Celtics. Kobe, though, should do a much better job on Pierce when they are matched against each other. Of course, then the Lakers will have to worry about Ray Allen Running Rough Shod around Vlade for 6 games. The Lakers might be better served to forgo Radmonovic’s positives on Offense and use a lineup of Kobe and Trevor Ariza to slow down the Celtic’s Wing Duo. If The “3”s stay on each other, expect to hear Pierce’s name a lot when Marv Albert starts talking about “One of the ALL time GREAT Finals Performances, we’ve EVER SEEN!!!”

Advantage: Celtics

Part I, II, IV, V

Finals Analysis Part II

2008-06-03T09:17:00.000-07:00

Part I, III, IV, V

Part I gave me some amount of pause when deciding how the Point Guard match up would turn out. But There is no danger of that happening in Part II. Without further delay,

Shooting Guard

Celtics: Ray Allen

As long as Doc Rivers doesn't suddenly decide that Up is Down and Right is Wrong, Ray Allen will still be the Starting Shooting Guard when the Two teams Face off in the Finals, despite his struggles recently. Jesus Shuttlesworth (If you haven't seen He Got Game, it's your own fault for not getting the reference, not mine), by any account is a very good player. He's not the greatest defensive player, but he isn't a liability to the point where he needs to be taken out of games in big moments. When he entered the league out of Uconn, he was mostly a jump shooter, like a smaller Glen Rice or a slower Reggie Miller. But over the years, he's added a deceptively quick first step, an underrated crossover and he has really always been a good passer. In fact, there is nothing that you can really say he does poorly. Years of having a meticulously OCD-driven work-out regimen helps. True, he has been shooting poorly in the playoffs this year, but ask Phil Jackson if that means he wants to leave Ray Allen open on the wing for even a millisecond. Shuttlesworth has one of the quickest, most accurate releases on his jump shot the league has ever seen and he's one of the two or three guys in the league who wouldn't even flinch in a Clutch-Free-Throw-Shooting contest with Kobe Bryant. at around 90% for his CAREER, Allen is also one of the best Free throw shooters the League has ever seen.

Lakers: Kobe Bryant

That being Said, Ray Allen is going to get DESTROYED in this series. Kobe Bryant has been the best all around player in the game since at least 2000 (His first year on the All-Defensive Team). This year he is the League's MVP because he was one of the best defenders all year long, he's always been able to score literally on ANYBODY and saying that he is perennially on the NBA's All Defensive team is truly understating his ability and his commitment on the Defensive end. Kobe's offense is faster and stronger than Allen's Defense and Kobe's Defense is Faster and Stronger than Allen's offense. However, we all know that No NBA Team is going to try to cover Kobe 1 on 1 with Ray Allen, who - no offense intended either way - couldn't stay with Joe Johnson defensively. There will be a LOT of cross matches in this series where Pierce will be guarding Bryant. That will help quite a bit because Pierce is a significant upgrade over Allen (who, again, is not THAT bad). Of course, this means that Allen will be guarding a much bigger player (Luke Walton, Trevor Ariza, Vladimir Radmonovic or even Lamar Odom if Phil gets Creative) and if those small forwards decide to take Allen into the post, then Garnett is going to need to Earn that DPOY Trophy the hard way, but playing a mid-zone for Allen's backup and recovering to his man in the post or on cuts. This is the Single Biggest match up problem that the Celtics will face and it poses almost NO problems for the Lakers because of Kobe's abilities on both ends of the court.

Advantage: Lakers... And it isn't even close (shakes head in pity for Ray Allen).

editor's note: One interesting thing to watch for in this series will be the ongoing "Rivalry" - if you can call it that - between Kobe and Allen. They say that it's nothing, but you'll notice that They go at each other harder than most people. If the fire in this feud really has been doused as they claim, expect it to be rekindled in this series.

Part I, III, IV, V

Finals Analysis

2008-06-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

Part II, III, IV, V

OK, here is my Full Finals Analysis. I'll break down the two teams in this year's NBA Finals by position, including each starter, the bench as a whole, the coaching and even the crowds.

Let's Start with...

The STARTERS!!!

POINT GAURD

Lakers: Derek Fisher
at 6'1", 185 pounds, Derek is built like a brick wall. He's about as broad in the shoulders as he is tall. Derek is an excellent three point shooter (I believe he still holds the finals record for three point percentage) and has been shooting particularly well in the playoffs as various defensive schemes to stop the other players on the team have given him plenty of wide open shots. For a point guard, he doesn't get up an down the floor very quickly, but fast break basketball has never really been his M.O. Still, at 32, he's not bad going 94 feet. But his real strength is in the half court - both on offense AND defense.

He's great at getting the offense started and calling out defenses. He's not very flashy with his passes or his ball handling. The best way to describe him is "Stable", which is good for the point guard on a very young team. His adept post-entry passes (an underated skill) will get Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant and even Luke Walton the ball in exactly the right spots on the floor. Then, on the other end of the court, he stays in front of his man and fights around EVERY screen. When playing off the ball, he's one of the best in the League at stepping in and taking a charge. Expect to see him step in for a charge at least twice per game - whether it gets called or not.

Celtics: Rajon Rondo
Rondo is just about an all star waiting to happen. Sure, there was the story about him losing a three point shooting contest to an eighth grader last summer, but he's a smart player and has figured out how to play to his strengths. In particular, when teams routinely double and triple team off of him, he's learned to make hard cuts towards the basket and is becoming adept at making that little 4-8 foot floating jump shot in and around the lane, which is becoming an absolute necessity for star point guards nowadays. And he has the skills with the ball to get to the hoop at will against slower guards (ie Derek Fisher)He takes his cues from Kevin Garnett, so he's unselfish almost to a fault at times. However, when the game is on the line, the Celtics shouldn't have any qualms about putting the ball in his hands and trusting that he will make the right call.
Defensively, he's quick and active. He does have a tendency to lay on screens a bit, but his foot speed and length (at 6'1", with arms that hang down to his knees), he seems a few inches taller. Recently, he's been playing the best basketball of his young career, including that 14 assist, 4 steal, 1 turnover gem against the Pistons.

Rondo is going to give the Lakers fits when he's up against Derek Fisher because Derek shouldn't be able to keep up with him. Then again, he shouldn't have been able to keep up with Tony Parker or Deron Williams, either. Rondo should give Fisher problems defensively, but they'll probably have him doubling, so Number 2 should continue to get open shots. Honestly, this matchup is just about a wash, but since Derek has the Experience (10 years in the NBA, 3 time champion, 2 time starter for a championship team), I'll give the Lakers a slight advantage here. But it's close.

Advantage: Lakers

editor's note: After thinking it over for the night, I think that this matchup will be a wash. It will be youth and athleticism versus experience and skill, instinct vs. insight. It will be frustrating for both sides to watch. No advantage gained.

Part II, III, IV, V

"Fan Fatigue"?

2008-05-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

I would apologize for not regularly updating this blog with new posts as I had originally planned, but I know that the only person who cares or reads this blog or even remembers that it exists is me. So screw everyone reading this! Yes, this means you. Aww...wait, that's me. Damnit!

Anyway, Since my last post, Kobe officially got MVP and the Lakers won the Western Conference Semi-Finals and Finals. Now they're waiting on the Celtics/Pistons to finish their series (maybe tonight) to see who their opponent will be. It's looking like the Lakers could beat either one of them right now. Of course, most people outside of the Detroit Metropolitan area thought the same thing in 2004 when Kobe, Shaquille O'neal, Karl Malone, Gary Payton and the rest of the Lakers went into the Finals back then.

Anyway, though, with the Lakers so close to a championship, I'd like to discuss a subject that no one every really talks about. I'm talking about what happens to fans of championship teams. First of all, I'm talking about REAL fans. Not necessarily the ones who buy the expensive tickets. Not the ones that buy all of the paraphernalia that they can get their hands on. And certainly not the ones who root for the Championship team DURING championship runs (Hi Mom). No, I'm talking about the fans who come up with excuses for their bosses so that they can get home early to watch the game. The fans who, at the end of a disappointing season don't say "XYZ Team Sucks!" or "I don't know why I even root for them". But instead face overwhelming adversity (i.e. "My team just traded Pau Gasol FOR Kwame Brown") with underwhelming optimism ("Maybe we can get a big name free agent to come down here in the off season with his salary off the books"). I'm talking about those fans who stay up 'till 1:00 AM to watch their team play on the West Coast, or rush through those last two Final Exams to get home and watch their team play on the East Coast (those 4:00pm tip-off times are a killer!!!) Lowering your G.P.A. by .4 points takes a LOT more dedication than shelling out 3500 dollars a seat on a salary of 8 million a year.

So these fans spend the entire season - and for the NBA, one season takes a LONG time and a lot of energy - rooting for their team. They yearn for victory. They yearn for improvement! There's a constant push to do better, do more, do it again! The fandom becomes a part of their lives. It consumes them to a degree. Every loss, drives the yearning deeper, paradoxically turning fans into even more crazed, truer, ever-more-consumed by the team, uber fans. The rooting becomes a part of life, as essential as oxygen and the purple and gold (or insert team colors here) blood running through their veins. They come to expect it, rely upon it. Then, there comes a point when they don't know how NOT to root for their team. How NOT to yearn for more. How Not to expect something from the team. They need it everyday. So what happens when your team wins the Championship? Sure, you're happy! I mean, you just got exactly what you wanted, right? But there's another feeling. You know that you can't ask for anything more. And so that rooting, that yearning, that hope is gone. Suddenly and sometimes without any warning. And when it goes, it leaves a void that can't really be described in words, but I'll try anyway.

First there is an emptiness, like hunger, but when you're not hungry. Then theres a sense of loss, but not loss like you would feel if a family member dies, more like a puzzled loss, like you can't find your favorite pair of shoes that your grandfather gave to you right before he died and told you "Cherish these always and think of me when you see them". That's followed almost instantaneously by a feeling of shame for even feeling this way in the first place about something as trivial as a game - especially when you weren't playing the game, you don't really feel like that about other things and because your team WON the game! It's all very confusing at first and, I imagine, could cause some people to go insane trying to figure it out.

Now, let me lay it out there for you. I am an LA fan: Dodgers, Sparks, Raiders (before they left and after Al Davis is no longer associated with the team) Avengers, Galaxy, UCLA Football and, of course, the Lakers. Since 1983, those teams have won more than a dozen Championships of various kinds (oddly enough, none in the 90s, during my most formative years) so I am use to my team winning and use to expecting my team to win. And I have plenty of experience with theses feelings. In fact, the whole reason that I'm writing this is because with the Lakers so close to another title, I'm starting to feel it already, just a little bit. If the Lakers were to Lose, I would be full of hope and optimism for next year, even though I'd be sad that they lost. But when they win, I just know that I'll go through this phenomenon for at least a short while.

I don't think that there is a name for this, as most people either don't discuss it, don't even or acknowledge it or don't have this happen to them at all. But I'm sure that I'm not the only one who feels like this. I'd like to name it, but I'm not sure of what to call it. Any suggestions? I'm kind of leaning towards "Fan Fatigue". Though I would also hear an argument for something like "Championship Withdrawal". If you've taken all of the time to actually read this post, please take a couple more seconds and give a suggestion for a name in the comments.

By the way, I promise to have a full Finals analysis and prediction in before the Game one of the Finals next week.

Blogging the games today

2008-05-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

OK... this should be good. I Want to say, first of all, that I am more than happy to have been wrong about the Hawks not providing any resistance for the Celtics. I hope they win today. I'm pretty sure that it would be the first time a 65 win team lost to a team with a losing record in a seven game series... It's starting now!!!

...Well, a couple minutes into the game and the Celtics are up by 9. Make it 11. This is going to be rough...

...Up by 16 now. I'm not even watching this game anymore. I'm gonna have me some breakfast...

... What the heck!?!?! The Hawks are down by 137 points in the fourth quarter. I think I'm gonna need a shot of something strong.

...

...OK, finally, the Lakers game!!! I like Lisa Salters as a sideline reporter. A lot more than Michelle Tafoya. And don't even get me started on Craig Sager. Lisa has really been a great pickup by the ABC/ESPN Team.

...Utah jumps out to a 4-0 Lead, my friend says "I Told you the Lakers wouldn't walk over the Jazz". For the Record, I never said the Lakers would "walk all over" the Jazz, like they did to the Nuggets. Just that they will win. But they could still walk all over the Jazz. It's only four points.

... Lakers on a 9-0 run, score 9-4. Redemption.

... Second Quarter now and the Lakers are really starting to hand it to the Jazz. I didn't think that this could happen, but I'm actually getting tired of all the "Kobe4MVP" talk. Speaking of which, I kind of like waiting for the actual announcement. I don't like to know who's getting MVP before I know. "Boo" to the Los Angeles times for reporting that Kobe would win. I feel kind of like Russel Crowe at the Oscars. He already knows that he's going to win, so he spends a week and a half being happy, then when he actually gets it, he's all Happied out. But he still has to feign surprise and happiness when he gets it. And I'll have to act happy and write a "Kobe Finally Wins his Long Overdue MVP" column in this space. Even though I'm already tired of thinking about it.

...Okay, I'm a little confused. If you get fouled on an inbounds play before the ball is inbounded, you get two shots plus the ball. So when Kobe got fouled before he got the ball, he got two shots. But shouldn't the Lakers have had the ball with 3.3 seconds left? I mean, he hadn't gotten to the ball yet. .

... Kobe just gave an interview in which he described the Lakers teams of the early part of this decade as "A little dysfunctional". I seem to remember an incident where Kobe Socked Samaki Walker in the eye once. That's "A Little" dysfunctional? I'd hate to see what happens when they're "severely disjoint."

... Seriously, is Jerry Sloan Skelator's brother? Cousin? Uncle? Grandfather?

...Great third quarter by the Jazz. And this is why the Lakers won't just walk all over the Jazz. Great Offensive rebounding. Hell, great Defensive rebounding too, for that matter. It's such an underrated part of the game. But if you can get one offensive rebound for every 2 misses, then you will score almost every time down the floor. That is HUGE! Especially if you can shoot over 40% from the floor.

...Well, the fourth quarter was pretty uneventful. The lead from the end of the third quarter went from 7 to 9 on the first play and hovered around there until the game ended.

This was pretty fun. I should blog my thoughts as I'm watching games more often. Next time, I'll get someone to blog with me as we watch.

Until Next time loyal fans,
-Eric

The NBA. Where "Loyalty Means Nothing" Happens

2008-04-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

The Story according to TNT:

This is just disgusting to me. They had really better not call themselves the "SuperSonics". I mean, what is wrong with the people of Oklahoma City that they are actually supporting and/or going along with this move? What is wrong with the other NBA Owners that they approved it? What is wrong with David Stern? And how long until you think we get another SuperSonics franchise back in Seattle? It has to happen, right? I mean, it just has to. I can't even imagine watching Kobe and the guys play for the Kansans City Lakers. Nor the Sacremento Dodgers.

That last scene is F*ing Amazing.

Some moves are good moves. The Grizzlies should have left Vancouver. The Nets are going to Brooklyn year after next - Fine. It's not really that far and it's actually kind of cool. The Hornets seemed to be yanked away from Charlotte, but honestly, Charlotte didn't support them that much those last 6 years or so. This is like watching the Warriors get pulled out of Oakland and land somewhere like... Cheyenne Wyoming. It doesn't even make BUSINESS sense!

I've lost a little... No, I've lost a LOT of respect for the NBA. I don't even know if I can watch it with the same childlike enthusiasm I once watched with. Even if the Lakers win the Championship OVER the Celtics and the Knicks are fun to watch again; Even if the post-up game returns and the illegal defense rules are modified to make more sense; even if Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Bosh, Howard, Paul, T. Parker, Durant, Oden, Mayo, Bynum, Josh Smith, Al Jefferson, D. Williams, etc. make the 2010s as much fun as Jordon, Pippen, Shaq, Olajuwon, the Hardaways, Robinson, Payton, Kemp, Malone, Stockon et al. made the 90s, I'll say "This is Great!", or "It's FAAAAANTASTIC", or "I Love This Game", or "Where Amazing Happens" or whatever it is with a grain of salt... nah, with a big LUMP of salt. Because in the back of my mind, I'll always think "The NBA Did let Clay Bennet Steal the Supersonics away from Seattle."

April 13th, 2008. The last home game for the Seattle Supersonics?

Eight 50 win teams... no upsets?

2008-04-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

Man what a game last night!!! Atlanta finally pulled through against Boston to make the series a more respectable 2-1. Josh Smith had 27 points including an important late three... and I missed it. I did see the Houston-Utah game, though and, of course, the Lakers Game. A quick note on each of those series: Never for one minute did I imagine a scenario where the Nuggets would be facing the Rockets in the Second Round. I think that all of the hype of this year's post season will be realized in the second round. I know I'm getting ahead of myself because no team has clinched a second round series yet, but I honestly don't think that the Rockets can win 3 more games against Utah (though I'm openly and sometimes annoyingly rooting for them). And the Nuggets might not win another quarter of Basketball against the Lakers.

Still, each of them has a chance - The Nuggets have a Puncher's Chance and the Rockets... well they're like a Baseball team with one Great Ace. You know that when he takes the mound, they're really dangerous because all of a sudden scoring against them can be like jogging through quicksand. Which is what happened last night near the end of the game, but Time was already on Utah's side. Still, UTA/LAL is most likely what we'll be seeing in Round 2.

Now that will be entertaining for me for a couple of reasons: First, I hate Utah! Hate 'em, Hate 'em, Hate 'em!!! Even though I like Deron Williams, AK47, and Carlos Boozer... or at least his Offensive game. I've hated Utah since John Stockton mastered the Illegal Screen (or mastered not getting called for it and getting Malone's man called for it).
Second: Utah is Really Good at home. I know that a lot has already been made of this point, but they are really, really good at home. And they always have been. It's not just about being comfortable with your routine at home and being able to perform better there. That's part of it, but a lot of it has to do with Salt Lake City. They have an underrated, loud, boisterous, involved, knowledgeable crowd who go above and beyond. I think it was back in 1998 when Utah won 62 games, Seattle and the Lakers won 61 games and the Bulls won 60. Anyway, after the Lakers beat Seattle in 5 to win in the second round, they met up with Utah. When the Lakers arrived in the Airport, they were met with throngs of Utah Fans deriding them from the minute they stepped off the plane. Then, the night before Game 2, a group of Utah fans showed up outside of their hotel room with brass instruments around 10:00pm and didn't leave until 8:00 AM. If that wasn't bad enough, just before Half-Time, Nick Van Exel was dribbling down the court with about ten seconds left on the clock. He got to about mid court with around 6-7 seconds left, ready to do his Nick Van Excellent thing and get a good shot off at the end of the quarter, like he always did. Instead, a trumpeter with a half-court seat blew his horn and instinctively, Nick threw the ball up from about 47 feet. That's dirty. And it's unheard of. And it's brilliant. And it's exactly the type of thing that a team has to deal with when playing in Utah. I wish LA fans could do stuff like that. Not too extreme, like when a Hotel in Sacramento Poisoned Kobe (remember that?), but just something inspired and original, you know? In terms of Xs and Os, the Lakers can beat Utah in Utah. They've already done it once this year (by like 20 points). But That crowd is probably going to make things interesting - in and out of the arena.

Oh yeah, and Chris Paul (possibly this year's MVP) will probably be facing Last year's Finals MVP, Tony Parker. That should be entertaining.

The REST!!!

2008-04-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

And speaking of the 2008 NBA Individual Awards, we've got three major award announcements down (A belated Congratulations gos out to Antonio McDyess for the Sportsmanship Award). I thought I'd take this time to give my picks for the rest of

the awards yet to be given away this year. I completely agree with SMOY going to Ginobili and DPOY going to Garnett. So with out further delay...

THE REST!

Coach of The Year - Byron Scott
Runners up: Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson
Honorable Mention: Jerry Sloan and Rick Adleman

This was a tough one. I got tired of people saying that a guy who took not one, but TWO teams to the finals was a bad coach. And people have been crediting CP3 with Tyson Chandler and David West's emergence this year, but I say that a lot of that credit lies with the coaching that they're receiving. Especially Tyson Chandler. As for the runners up, it's difficult to not recognize a 66 win season in every category. Especially when they have a +10 point differential. And with all that the Lakers have been through, for them to end up with the Number 1 seed, I think Phil definitely deserves a nod there. Rick Adleman changed his coaching style on the fly twice this year, which was very impressive to me, altering the way his team played and what players he played along the way to keep that Rockets team in the hunt. And, uh... Poor Jerry Sloan. He might never win it.

All Rookie Team:
PG: Rodney Stuckey
SG: Al Thornton
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Al Horford
C: Luis Scola

Rookie of the Year - Kevin Durant
Very Close Runner Up - Al Horford
Honorable Mention: Al Thornton, Luis Scola.

This award is closer than a lot of people think. Sure, Durant averaged almost 10 points more than any other rookie. Sure, he shows one of the most complete and finalized offensive games of any rookie since Lebron James. But seriously, he led his team to the second worst record in the West. Our runner up helped push his team into the playoffs and was a monster on the boards - especially over the last half of the season. He was 25 total rebounds away from averaging a double-double, even though Mike Woodson kept him on the bench for most of the game from October to December. In the Last 2 months of the season, 25 rebounds was about 2 games for him. And his Defense is a lot better than most people will realize because he plays for the Hawks - So most people don't even realize he's in the league.

This Scola Pick here is a litte unfair for Center on the Rookie team for two reasons: First, he's listed as a forward/Center, but he's a forward. Not a Center at all. Secondly, he's a rookie, but he's been one of my favorite international players for about 5 years now, ever since seeing him on Tau Ceramica against Cska Moscow for the Euroleague Title. He was unstoppable in the post half a decade ago. Now he's a cerebral, high-IQ guy with a list of post-moves to rival even his Low-Post teammate, Yao Ming. And still, he's not in the same class as Kevin Durant and Al Horford. That's just how good those two guys are.

All Defensive Team

G: Chauncey Billups
G: Kobe Bryant
F: Shane Battier
F: Kevin Garnett - Defensive Player of the Year
C: Tim Duncan

Second Team:

G: Chris Paul
G: Raja Bell
F: Tayshaun Prince
F: Marcus Camby
C: Dwight Howard

I changed the teams up just a little bit so we could put the underated Duncan in the first team with a crowded mix at center and forward. Then Raja Bell becomes a guard and Marcus camby becomes a forward in the second team to put Dwight Howard in there. Chris Paul only gets the nod here for leading the league in steals and because of a lack of quality defenders at the point. I wanted to put Ron Artest in there, but he just missed too many games for me. So it was a toss up between Paul and Chauncey Billups for me. I know that you will notice an absence of marquee defensive names like Bruce Bowen. Honestly, Ime Udoka played better than Bowen this year. Bowen has lost more than a step this year. More like three steps. And while that still makes him a better defender than 80% of the league, 90% of the 20% better than Bowen play forward. It's a tough position to get formal Defensive recognition at.

Bizzaro Executive of the Year - Chris Wallace (Not the Chris Wallace from Fox News)
Runner Up - Kevin McHale.
Dishonorable mention - Pat Riley and Isaiah Thomas

Obviously, Kevin McHale and Chris Wallace helped to turned the Celtics and Lakers, respectively, into title contenders with little to no regard for their own franchises. At least McHale got Al Jefferson Back! Pat Riley gets the almost-stern-finger here for turning a Champion into a worse team than the Knicks. Isaiah Thomas had to be there just because I used the Knicks to measure how bad the worst team in the league has gotten and you didn't even blink.

I really think that this should be an award. It should only be given out when teams are GawdAful-Bad to the point that they're not even competitive and the fans throw rotten fruits and vegetables at the bench (Like Pat Riley's Team) or when people do amazingly stupid things (Like the other three).

Executive of the Year - Mitch Kupchak, Lakers
Runner Up - Danny Ainge, Celtics
Honorable Mention - Steve Kerr, Suns

Let's review Mitch's Season: First, he did NOT trade KOBE! Then, he DID NOT trade Kobe again. Finally, he did NOT TRADE KOBE!!! That alone was worth something. Then he did not trade Andrew Bynum, traded Brian Cook (a guy who was hurting the team with his lack of defense and shoot-first mentality) and Maurice Evans (A good shooter and alright defender with zero percent body fat, but who wasn't getting many minute playing shooting guard behind Kobe and who isn't as good a defender or shooter as Sasha Vujacic, who also plays Shooting Guard) for Trevor Ariza (A Marvelous Defender at small forward who can get into lanes, is a good ball handler and can give the Lakers a defensive lineup of Sasha, Kobe, Ariza, Odom and Bynum. That's pretty damn good. Then, Mitch Traded a center, but not the one who looks like the next franchise center for a franchise known by its centers. Instead he traded Kwame Brown. Yes, that Kwame Brown! The one who can't catch, shoot, only defends sometimes and has a tendency to forget that there's a basketball game going on. The guy who Kareem Abdul Jabar described as "Already knowing how to play Basketball". In other words, he's uncoachable and doesn't feel like he needs to get better. They traded him for a guy who fits seamlessly in with what the lakers do on offense and, though he's not great defensively, he works at it EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION. And he's good at it, just not great like Bynum will be.
Mitch Kupchak obviously has some dirty photos of Chris Wallace somewhere. I'm sure of it. But as a Lakers fan, I can't fight the feeling that one day Chris will ask Mitch to do a favor he can't refuse. Like Swapping the Number 1 pick in the draft for the number 27 pick in the draft, straight up. That is literally the caliber of trade that went down here. It is of an historic nature.

Danny Ainge, on the other hand, accepted Kevin Garnett - a no brainer, from an ex-Celtic who got Al Jefferson in Return. And once that happened, the likes of Sam Cassell, James Posey and Everybody else were just Aching to put on the green and white and lace 'em up in that lineup. But he also pulled off the Jeff Green for Ray Allen Trade and Kept Rondo out of the deal with Minny. Not a bad year for him at all. Oh, and Kerr gets honorable mention because he constructed a trade that dropped the Phoenix suns from number 2 in the west to number 6. Now there's no guarantee that the Suns wouldn't have ended up there anyway, but because of the trade, I think the Suns have a better chance of getting out of the 3-6 matchup than if they had Shawn Marion. And gave us two great games so far, even though they lost both of them. But at least now they're going back to Phoenix for the next two close games. Kudos to him.

Most Improved Player - Beno Udrih
Runner Up - Jose Calderon
Honorable Mention - Ime Udoka & Sasha Vujacic

(This one is long so take a deep breath... and GO!)

Two of our top spots have San Antonio Connections. And it's no accident. MIP is an award that usually goes either to people who GMs took a chance on, or to someone who flew way under the radar. Greg Poppavich has a knack for finding these guys. Beno Udrih was a rediculously good pick in the second round a few years back. It was clear right away that the guy could play. It was also clear right away that last year's final's MVP, Tony Parker, could also play. And that Udrih would be hard up in finding minutes behind him. I remember the day Udrih was traded. I said to one of the guys in my fantasy league, "Hey! Beno Udrih got traded to the Timberwolves! I should pick him up soon before somebody else sees that he's not playing behind Tony Parker anymore!" and my friend replied with a solemn "Who?" That's kind of the way it's been for Beno Udrih's young career so far. Anyone who's had a chance to watch him play loves his game. But no one had gotten a chance to see him yet. By Year's end, he had nearly trippled his averages for scoring, assists and rebounds while nearly doubling his percentages for three point shooting, Steals, Blocks and Minutes played. He hasn't really improved much from last year to this year. He's just gotten a chance to play in Sacremento. Let's call this the Player With the Most Improved Stats (PWTMIS) and give him the award anyway.
Jose Calderon has a similar story to Beno Udrih's. Only Calderon's emergence came because of an extended injury to T.J. Ford, not because of a trade. Honestly, Calderon should be the starter and Ford should be sitting on the bench. He could easily lead the league in assists if he played 35 minutes a game. Playing 16-20 minutes behind Ford is holding him back, and I don't know why. Toronto is better with Calderon on the floor than with Ford. The only reason Ford is playing is because they gave him so much money... ok, he's pretty good too. Just not as good as Calderon.
Ime Udoka is the only guy you might look at and say "Huh"? Comparing this year to last year, Udoka averaged fewer Points, Steals and Rebounds and shot lower percentages from the field and from three point range. And all of the drops were huge! So why is he here? His Defense. He and the next guy I'm going to talk about have improved their defense to the point that it wouldn't even be that much of a stretch to see them on next year's All-Defensive teams (They've been good this year, but without gaudy steal and block numbers, you have to make your reputation as a defender in the Post Season, then get recognized the following season. Udoka's offensive stats have struggled because last year he played in Portland in a me-first-scheme-team. That meant that he only had to worry about his individual stats and not getting injured. This year, he played alongside Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan. They get the ball, they get the stats. If you want to play with them you play good, hard Defense. And that's what he's done this year. He's really defended everyone from small forwards (and small power forwards) to point guards and he's learned from Bruce Bowen's tricks. He's a joy to watch on the defensive end.
Sasha Vujacic... I have the benefit of watching him all year long, so I'm hoping that this isn't just a homer nod to him. He's increased all of his key stats except for assists and that's because he doesn't pass much. He puts the basket in the bucket. Over and over and over. And like Udoka for the Spurs, his defense has been tremendous for the Lakers this years. I can think of at leat 3 games this year that the Lakers won BECAUSE of Sasha's defense. I'm talking about last-posession "If I don't make this defensive stop, we lose because we're already down and we need another score after the stop" situations. If the Lakers had lost those three games, they'd be 6th in the west instead of 1st. That is HUGE. Good Job Sasha.

All NBA Teams

3rd Tem
G: Allen Iverson
G: Tracy McGrady
F: Al Jefferson
F: Antawn Jamison
C: Rasheed Wallace

2nd Team
G: Deron Williams
G: Manu Ginobili
F: Carmelo Anthony
F: Tim Duncan
C: Amare Stoudemire

1st Team
G: Kobe Bryant
G: Chris Paul
F: LeBron James
F: Kevin Garnett
C: Dwight Howard

I don't think that any more needs to be said about the first team. Dwight Howard is a freaking MONSTER and his was the only one that was a close decision (him or Amare there, hmmm?) The other four are collectively the MVP. I feel like I need to justify putting Al Jefferson on the Third Team, but how many other people averaged 20 and 10 this year? Go ahead, I'll give you a minute to guess. Give up? A grand total of five. That's right, over three hundred players and 5 accomplished that feat this year. Only one who lasted most of the season isn't on my list. I had to leave one of them off. Dwight Howard, Antawn Jamison, Al Jefferson, Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer all played great. But, as one Utah fan complained, "Why does EVERYONE have a career game against Carlost Boozer? It's like whoever he's playing just happens to be having the game of his life!" So yeah, A-J got the Spot. Guards are really good in the NBA. I could make a fourth team with nothing but guards. It would include Chauncey Billups, Baron Davis (who was on there at first, but I took off because I couldn't keep Tracy McGrady off since his team made the Playoffs and Baron's only had like 49 wins...), Richard Hamilton, Paul Pierce and Tony Parker... and maybe Brandon Roy... and Steve Nash. Whew. Good thing Dwayne Wade and Gilber Arenas were injured this year, huh?

MVP

Kobe Bryant.

No Further Explanation needed. Read one of my older posts comparing him to Lebron James. You'll get it.

The Best Playoffs Ever?

2008-04-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

For all the talk about how great this playoffs is going to be, 7 of the 8 series are 2-0. The only lower seed to win a game so far has been Philadelphia over Detroit. And It really looks to me like that one is going to end up being 4-1. In the west, though, the only series that looks close is SAS/Suns. And the Spurs are up 2-0 in that one!

I guess I can't complain too much, though. That just means that teams have won at home (except Utah which is the higher seed because they won their mediocre division, but has a worse record than Houston, who has home court advantage because of a better record but who is still expected to lose because they lost All Star Center Yao Ming to injury a While Back - Whoa, big parenthetical note). To be fair, I guess the Nuggets Lakers games have been pretty close for about 2.5 quarters of each game. And You know Dallas is going to play better at home. Utah was 37-4 at home this season, so the Rockets might be the only casualty of a sweep this year. We'll see what happens after game threes start tonight.

Speaking of Game threes, does anybody know if Brian Cook is still alive? I'm not saying that getting him was a bad trade for the Magic - I mean, they did get Maurice Evans out of the deal and they got rid of Trevor Ariza, an athletic defensive-minded swing man that Stan Van Gundy somehow couldn't find PT for. But I think when you hear that a guy is 6'10" and can shoot over 40% from 3 point range, you tend to get delusions of grandeur. Then you get him on your team and realize "Hey, I've got Brian Cook on my team! How the hell did that happen?"

Why does Marv Albert have a Job?

2008-04-23T22:44:00.000-07:00

About 11 years ago, Marv Albert was accused, and later plead guilty to a sexual assault charge. That's right, RAPE!!! He Raped a woman and plead GUILTY! Bob Costas took his place on "The NBA on NBC" for a while, and then, quietly, Marv Albert returned. How the hell did this happen? Don't get me wrong, I think he's a very good basketball announcer. But I think I'm pretty good at what I do. And if I was charged with rape, and then plead guilty, I would: A) Not get a suspended 12 month sentence and B) Not get my job back.

Congrats to KG on Defensive player of the year (the second-most obvious award this season, along with rookie of the year, Sixth man was the most obvious).

Speaking of Boston. Watching them play the Hawks today was F*ing Torture! Could somebody please secretly switch the Hawks with the Bobcats so the Celtics can get some resistance? Please?

Lakers are Winning by 8, but should really be up by about 15 right now. We'll see where the score ends up.

...Oh wow, Phil put in a new sideline out-of-bounds play where Kobe uses himself as a decoy for the inbounds pass and then gets a dunk off of a lob from the center.

...

Alright, J.R. Smith is now getting put into the DeShawn Stevenson Hall of fame. How do you trash talk with someone AS they're getting 50 on you? Ok, so Kobe left the game early and only got 49. The point is, the lakers went up by about 20 points while J.R. Smith got his talk on... not smart, J.R. Not Smart at all. It kind of reminds me of another J.R. that played for the Nuggets. A guy by the name of Rider. He wasn't that bright either.

More later.

The NBA. Where Boston Vs. LA Happens

2008-04-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

Dwight Howard had a second consecutive 20-20 game (29-20 to be exact). Chris Paul had a second consecutive 30-10 game (32-17 to be exact) and LeBron James was a rebound away from a triple double (30-12-9 to be exact)... and DeShawn "LeBron is overrated" Stevenson scored 12. I'm seriously not going to let him live this down. Lebron is averaging 31 points on 55% shooting, 8 assists, 7.5 rebounds and 1 win per game. Stevenson? well, he's averaging 7 points and a half of a rebound on 31% shooting in two consecutive losses. Way to show him who's the boss, DeShawn.

Meanwhile, The Suns built up another big lead on the spurs in the second quarter... and lost in the end. Oh yeah, and I think the Jazz and rockets are somewhere in these playoffs too.

Congratulations to Manu Ginobili on winning Sixth man of the year. Well deserved. He's probably the most valuable sixth man since Boston had like 10 hall of famers on its team in the 60s.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that Boston and L.A play on the Exact same day for all of their games? I haven't noticed yet if any other teams have such an anomaly.

Peace Everybody,

editor's note: the 1v8 games and 2v7 games in the East and West are played on the same day

Welcome, Playoffs. How I've missed you.

2008-04-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

So, The playoffs started this weekend. And with all of the talks about how even everything in the West is, the only lower seed to win a game 1 was out East, Philly. Chris Paul, first playoff game: 35 points on 65% shooting, 10 Assists with only 1 turnover, 4 steals and a blocked shot. Paul, Playoffs. Playoffs, Paul. Good to have you both.

Other notable Game 1 performances: Tim Duncan had 40 points, 15 Rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and the game tying 3 pointer(!!!) to force overtime in one of the best games I've EVER seen. Seriously, I'm trying to think of a better game than this one over the last 10 years (The time I've been following the league closely) and I can't.

Pau Gasol: 36 points, 16 Rebounds, 8 Assists, 3 Blocks, and the most iportant stat of the night for him, 1 win. That's 1 more than his entire win total in his previous three trips to the NBA Post-Season

LeBron James had his usual 400 point, 35 assist, 45 rebound game and DeShawn Stevenson (Mr. "Lebron is Overrated") had a field goal.

More after All of the Game 2s are done.

Oh yeah, how could I not say anything about the Man Child, Dwight Howard, getting a 20-20 game! Man, wouldn't it be great if we could replace Tyson Chandler with Dwight Howard or Jameer Nelson with Chris Paul? I mean, sure, it wouldn't be fair, but it would sure be fun!

Save the Seattle SuperSonics!!!

2008-03-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

I have been a Lakers fan since a few months before I was born. Hell, I'm not a fan, I AM a Laker!!! Just as much as Kobe, Lamar, Derek and Dr. Buss!!! In fact, I've been here since '83 so I'm longer tenured than them. Since the first game against Denver in the 1997-1998 season, I have not missed a single game (I've only attended three in person, but I've seen every pre-season, regular season and playoff game since that season). The last few years, I've even gotten down to CSULB and watched a bunch of summer league games on NBATV. In 2001, I even missed my own father's wedding for a Playoff game. He knew better than to plan a June Wedding anyway.

My point is this: I felt bad for Sonics fans before, but after reading both of Bill Simmons' Save The Sonics Mailbags, I got to thinking of Eddie Jones and Gary Payton showing us what it meant to play suffocating deffense against each other. In 1998, when both teams had 61 wins (which was just amazing because neither were 1st in the conference and Jordan's Bulls were better than anyone!), I can still hear Chick Hearns saying "Eddie Jones had SIX Blocked shots! Can you believe that!?!?" and then Stu Lantz saying in that laid back drawl of his, "That. Is a Lot... of Blocks..." after a Sonics/Lakers playoff game that year. I thought about all of the many fond memories I, as a Lakers fan, have about the Seattle Supersonics and this is the conclusion that I have come to. If/When the Sonics are Torn away from Seattle, I will not indulge the new franchise in any way. I will not attend, watch, or acknowledge the existence of a single Lakers/Rodeo Clowns game. As far as I'm concerened, the Lakers will have 79 games on the schedule. If someone asks me about the game, I'll say "What? The Lakers aren't playing tonight..." with a confused look on my face.

Furthermore, I will not support or acknowledge the existence of this new franchise in any way, except when discussing how terrible it was that the Supersonics were torn away from Seattle. If they make the playoffs, and win, the NBA has no champion. If a team beats them in the playoffs and wins the Championship, they will get an asterisk in my mind (*Lakers received a BY in round one because there is no OKC franchise). That's right, I'm committing to miss Lakers Playoff games if necessary.

I hereby pledge to join Seattle fans in Seattle for some sort of non-violent protest when planned. Instead of Save Our Sonics, I'll hold a Save Our NBA sign or something like that.

Finally, I will campaign, both publicly and privately, for all Lakers and Clippers fans in this city to do the same. Everyone, join me!!! If these stories don't touch you, you don't have a heart! Seriously, you might want to get that checked out. It's not healthy... Mr. Stern.

23, 24... 1?

2008-03-05T13:07:00.000-08:00

Ted Williams or Joe DiMaggio? Brett Favre or John Elway? Magic Johnson or Larry Bird? Larry Bird or Magic Johnson? That last two five or six more times... It's rare that we, as sports fans, get to watch two athletes define themselves as the best in their fields while simultaneously raising their teams to new heights.

Throughout the 2007-2008 NBA season, the prevailing storylines have been the dominance of the Western Conference and the dozens of trades, which have made the west... even more dominate. But one of the most intriguing stories of the last few months has been the emergence of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant as the two best players in the League. And behind the two of them, it isn't even close. Just to put that in perspective: there are two guys with 3 finals MVPs each (Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal), a 7-footer who can win a three point shooting contest against most of the league's guards (Dirk Nowitzki), a point guard who, at only 21 years old, has drawn comparisons to Oscar Robertson and nearly had a tripple double with steals a few days ago (Chris Paul), a monstrous individual by the name of Dwight Howard who can make a 20/20 game look like a Sunday morning walk in the park, a 7'6" behemoth who shoots over 80 Percent from the Free throw line and countless others who, every time they walk in the gym, are the best player in sight. Next to Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, all of these people look like 7th graders trying out for their junior high teams.

LeBron James is on the verge of completing the "Great Scorer" accomplishment that all great scorers in the NBA aspire to: Averaging 30 points per game for an entire season. The difference between his year and, let's say, Tracy McGrady averaging 32 a few years ago? LeBron is also averaging 8 rebounds and almost 8 assists. He dsoes everything on the offensive end and this year, he has also actually been playing defense! His Key defensive stats are great (1 Block, 2 steals, 8.1 rebounds), but they don't even begin to tell the story of his improvement this year on the defensive end. I'm not saying that he's 1st team all defensive. Not with Garnett, Duncan, Bowen, Artest, Bell and about 8 other great defensive players playing the same position. But the year before last, he was a liability on defense. Last year, it was pretty much a toss up. You forgot he was even on the floor for half of the game. This year, he is taking his defense very seriously. Until Ben Wallace joined the team, I felt very comfortable in saying that LBJ was the best defensive player on his team. And Larry Hughes is a very solid defensive player. Lebron has just been that good. He takes on the best perimeter player, which is exactly what the greats do. And he successfully defends the likes of Richard Jefferson, Paul Pierce, Hedo Turkoglu, Rip Hamilton and Micheal Redd on a nightly basis. Oh Yeah! He's Also leading the league in scoring at 30.3 points/game, 8th in assists and 8th in steals! MVP isn't even a big enough prize for this guy! They should crown him Ceaser!

So Lebron James is averaging more points, Rebounds, assists, steals and blocks than Kobe. He has a chance to be the first person to average 30, 8 and 8 for the first time since Jordan did it in 1988. That is Absolutely AMAZING. And still, Kobe Bryant deserves the MVP. If you look only at the stats, then Kobe looks like he's playing second fiddle to LeBron James. But if the Statistics determined the MVP, Kobe would have won it for the last two years. Kobe's statistics are great (28, 5 and 5). But all of the other impact he has on the game is what really separates him and makes him the MVP this year. Kobe's lakers are currently tied for 1st place (percentage points behind the Spurs). He has been playing better defense than his annual first team all defense selection would suggest, literally confounding and frustrating the opposing team's best player, especially in crunch time. He's taken a group of pretty good players and turned them into the best team in basketball. That is what MVPs do, and that is what Kobe Bryant has done this year. When he steps onto a basketball court, moreso than any other player, he turns the game into his personal playground. As LeBron James put it, "With Kobe, you have to stay focused a full 48 minutes... probably even during half-time! That guy is so focused!"

editor's note: Eric is a Big Laker's fan

I Hate Basketball

2008-02-29T10:31:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone. My name is Eric, and I Hate Basketball.

Really, I hate all sports, but especially basketball. Today is February 29th, 2008. Before the day is out, roughly 100 people will have died from a war in Iraq that will cost somewhere between $200 and $730 million dollars today. I'm writing from my office, where just yesterday, the school I work at had a fake bomb threat called in. If I drive 20 minutes to downtown, I will see a makeshift village made up of more homeless people than the population of the actual city where my brother lives in Wyoming. If I drive another 20 minutes to Beverly Hills, I can see the true disparities that these people deal with everyday. This past week, I saw two separate instances of the stresses of this world driving a man to kill everyone in his house and then himself. Two SEPARATE instances!!! This country is in the midst of one of the most exciting displays of Democracy since the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. So what has my attention today? What's got me upset? The Lakers are on a ten game winning streak going in to Portland tonight (where they've lost 4 straight) and I'm going to miss the game!

When did this happen? When did I become a puppet of corporate trickery? When did I decide that the most important thing in my life is watching grown men bounce a ball around? Does it even matter when or how it happened to me? What's important to know now is that this is where I am. I mean, it's not that I don't know that other things are going on in the world... I just don't care as much. And I hate that about myself. Yet, I embrace it.

Have you ever just sat and watched a game of Basketball? I mean, seriously sat and watched and thought about it? It's a near religious experience. One that can't even come close to suiting up and playing the game yourself. Most of life's lessons can be taught through the game of basketball. Fairness and Justice? No Fouls. Check! Teamwork? Check! Pride before the fall? "Don't stand there and pose on your shot! Get back on D!" Check! It truly is the perfect marriage of grace, athleticism, grittiness, selflessness, star power and everything else good you can think of.

Basketball consumes the avid Basketball fan to the point where most people don't want to talk about it with you anymore. So you go to sports bars to find like minded folks. You attend games (professional, semi-pro, amateur, even pick up games) to find someone to share your enthusiasm with. You order NBA League Pass and watch Kenny, Chuck and Ernie every single Week. You listen to the AM Sports stations. You talk to random people on the bus stop, at work, anywhere you can find them? But then, what do you do when you've run out of co-workers to annoy? When both of the home teams and both of the college teams are on the road? When you can't spend another dime at the sports bar? You start a Blog. And so we're here. At My Basketball Blog. Of course I don't have any readers yet (this being the first post and all), but as long as I get to write about basketball, I am at peace. Whether anyone is reading it or not.

Hello Everyone. My Name is Eric and I am addicted to basketball.